Thursday, February 19, 2009

People's litter hurts animals!







Yacht Wilhelm is moored in the Victoria and Alfred Marina in Cape Town.* Sea lions come to visit us. We don't like them on our dock because they smell and make lots of noise.... however, they are funny creatures and one can spend a lot of time watching them romp around. It is very upsetting when we see one, like the close up photo, wounded because some human has discarded plastic debris in the ocean. At sea, they twist and turn in plastic fishing lines and other human detritus. Over time, the lines dig into their bodies and cause open festering wounds, aggravated by salt water, flies. We see the wounded ones grow weaker as they rest on the docks. It is a very sad situation that makes us very intolerant of human beings who do not clean up after themselves.

*Named after Queen Victoria's son Alfred, not after her husband Albert...in case someone notices that apparent discrepancy.