A deer has been found dead in Thailand with 15lb of plastic bags in its stomach.
Officials found the deceased animal in a national park in Nan province, around 390 miles north of capital Bangkok, and the contents of its stomach were revealed in an autopsy.
Thailand is one of the world’s largest consumers of plastic, with each resident using an average of 3,000 single-use plastic bags per year to wrap street food, carry shopping and pack groceries.
The persistent material litters streets, clutters parks and clogs oceans, wreaking havoc in the habitats of numerous animals.
Yesterday, November 25, the office of Khun Sathan National Park reported park rangers finding the adult deer, weighing about 200kg, dead near the park’s office. They believed the animal died several days ago.
Kriangsak Thanompun, director of the protected region in the Khun Sathan National Park, explained the autopsy of the deer revealed it had ‘plastic bags in the stomach, which is one of the causes of his death’, Channel News Asia report.
The animal is thought to have been at least 10 years old, so park rangers believe its death was a result of both intestinal congestion and old age.
Photos shared by Khun Sathan National Park showed the deer had consumed bags of coffee grounds, instant noodle packaging, rubbish bags, towels, rubber gloves, handkerchiefs and even underwear after finding the litter around its home.
Thanompun described the deer’s death as a ‘tragedy’, adding:
It shows we have to take seriously and reduce… single-use plastic.
Earlier this year, Siam Commercial Bank’s Economic Intelligence Center ranked Thailand sixth in the list of the world’s worst offenders for dumping plastic waste into the sea.
The southeast Asian country came behind China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
Some of the products causing most problems in Thailand include plastic bags, which make up 13% of the waste in the ocean, followed by straws (10%) and food containers (8%).
Thailand is a global plastic production hub, but hundreds of companies are expected to alter their production processes and product categories in line with new measures attempting to eliminate single-use plastic within three years, the Bangkok Post reports.
The deer found in Khun Sathan National Park is just one of the many animals suffering because of plastic pollution, as this year has seen the death of other deer as well as numerous whales.
Too many creatures are being harmed because of our carelessness – things need to change quickly.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via story@unilad.com
Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.