One morning, a man named Jaime was driving to work with his wife. Suddenly, the couple spotted a baby skunk on the side of the road. As they approached the tiny animal, they noticed that it had a plastic cup stuck on its head.
The skunk walked up to the vehicle, and Jaime got out of the car and carefully approached it. Although he knew the skunk could potentially spray him, he wanted to help the animal, so he quickly pulled the cup off the skunk’s head.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, occurrences like these are nothing new. In a blog post titled Wildlife are Getting Their Heads Stuck in Our Trash, they noted that as humans produce more trash and fail to dispose of it properly, wild animals are reaping the consequences. In June 2013, there were several stories of animals getting their head’s stuck in trash that went viral.
One of these stories was about a bear getting its head stuck in a jar, and the other was about a deer who got its head stuck in a bag of Doritos.
The National Wildlife Federation feels that the responsibility of these incidents doesn’t fall on the manufacturers of these products, but rather to the consumers who fail to dispose of the trash properly.
Although the thought of these stories may be amusing at first, they are a sign of a huge problem. Understanding the potential danger our waste poses to wild animals is essential if we wish to protect the environment and the animals that reside in it.