新奇事件簿 被塑料喂饱的海鸟（在线收听）

A BBC team has filmed disturbing footage of the devastating impact plastic pollution is having on seabirds in the Tasman Sea, which is between Australia and New Zealand. The film crew was working on the remote Lord Howe Island for a new wildlife documentary called "Drowning in Plastic". They filmed many birds that had died because their stomachs were literally too full of plastic to be able to eat any food. The birds starved to death because there was no room in their stomachs for food. The documentary team filmed marine biologists working on the island to try and save the birds. The scientists captured hundreds of chicks and physically removed plastic from their stomachs to give them a chance of survival.

BBC团队拍摄了一组让人揪心的短片，短片展现了塑料污染对塔斯曼海上海鸟的毁灭性影响，塔斯曼海位于澳大利亚和新西兰之间。影片摄制组在偏远的豪勋爵岛拍摄一组新的野生动物纪录片《在塑料中溺亡》。他们拍摄了多只因胃部填满塑料再也无法进食而死亡的鸟。这些鸟是饿死的，因为它们的胃里再也没有空间可以容纳食物了。该纪录片团队拍摄了在岛上试图拯救这些海鸟的海洋生物学家。科学家们捕获了数百只幼鸟，将它们胃部的塑料取出来给它们生存的机会。

Marine biologist Jennifer Lavers explained what was happening to the birds. She said the birds were predators that will eat anything. She said: "When you put plastic in the ocean, it means they have no ability to detect plastic form non-plastic, so they eat it." Adult birds feed the plastic to their chicks, oblivious to what they are feeding them. Professor Lavers lamented that most of the plastic is "entirely preventable". She said: "We find plastic clothes pegs and plastic tooth brushes. Those could easily be swapped out for other materials - aluminium or wood. My own toothbrush is made of bamboo." TV presenter Liz Bonnin said: "We saw...90 pieces of plastic come out of one of the chicks."

海洋生物学家詹妮佛·莱弗斯解释了发生这种情况的原因。她说海鸟作为捕食者会吃掉任何东西。她表示：“当你把塑料扔进海洋中时，这就意味着它们无法从非塑料制品中区分出塑料，所以它们就把塑料给吃进去了。”成年鸟类将塑料喂给它们的幼崽，它们并不知道自己给幼崽喂的食物是什么。莱弗斯教授哀叹大多数的塑料是“完全可以预防的”。她说：“我们发现了塑料衣夹和塑料牙刷。这些用品完全可以使用其他材料代替—铝或木头。我自己的牙刷就是用竹子做的。”电视节目主持人莉兹·邦尼说到：“我们看到...从其中一只幼崽胃部取出了90块塑料。”