Dangerous traps: Macroplastic encounters affecting freshwater and terrestrial wildlife

A Dog-faced Water Snake, Cerberus rynchops (Schneider 1799), with a rubber-band around its body preying on a Bearded Mudskipper, Scartelaos histophorus (Oxudercinae), near Valsad, Gujarat, India

“…tailed Catfish (Pseudohemiodon laticeps) entangled in a synthetic rubber band (Blettler and Mitchell 2021). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a rubber band around a snake in nature.…”

“…Although macroplastics of various types are known to cause harm to individual animals and populations (e.g., Stuart and Watson 2001;Blettler and Mitchell 2021), the only accounts of rubber bands affecting wildlife of any kind were an Atlantic Croaker (Micropogon undulatus) girdled by a rubber band (Overstreet and Lyles 1974)…”

Environmental and Economic Impacts of Mismanaged Plastics and Measures for Mitigation

“…While land-based pollution has received attention as providing pathways towards marine plastic pollution, it is noted that the study and analysis of the ecological impacts of plastic pollution within terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems [77,78] is lacking. Macroplastic debris enters the terrestrial environment as litter and is most abundant in areas lacking adequate solid waste management; when subject to environmental variables it can enter other environmental pathways towards rivers and coastlines.…”

“…Macroplastic debris is intact plastic material and is less subject to the same degradation as within marine environments [55]. Wildlife interactions with macroplastic debris can include low-risk, benign, or potentially beneficial encounters, as some wildlife species employ fragments or intact plastic materials for nesting materials and makeshift shelter, including various mammal and bird species [77]. More dangerous or fatal interactions can take place via entanglement and ingestion, depending on the nature and condition of the debris and its impact on wildlife habitat and health [60].…”

A leucistic Checkered Keelback (Fowlea piscator) entangled in plastic netting in Valsad, Gujarat, India

“…Macroplastics of various types are known to cause harm to individual animals and populations (e.g., Stuart and Watson 2001;Kapfer and Paloski 2011;Blettler and Mitchell 2021). Plastic netting has been reported as an entanglement hazard (e.g., Twedt 1980;Bradford et al 1991;Fuller-Perrine and Tobin 1993) and many cases of net-trapped snakes occur regularly in India (e.g., Muthukumaran et al 2015;Sindha et al 2020;Vyas and Patel 2020;and…”