DO NOT DROP LITTER!

(it can kill or maim)

There is a regular ghastly toll of animal suffering, entrapment, poisoning, maiming, lingering painful death, fires and environmental degradation, caused by the avoidable and wholly reprehensible littering of our countryside and urban environments with our rubbish and waste.

Carrier bags, drink cans, yoghurt pots, plastic bottles, glass bottles, glass jars, rubber bands, plastic sheeting, packaging, netting, six-pack rings, plastic bags, string, fishing lines, fish hooks, lead shot, lead pellets, balloons, broken glass, roofing (sheet steel and sheet asbestos), windows, doors, pallets, lead-painted door and window frames, refrigerators, cookers, supermarket trolleys, bicycles, furniture, mattresses, machinery, rotten food, oil, lead batteries, pesticide and herbicide containers, paint tins and toxic waste go to make up some of the dangerous detritus that human civilisation recklessly inflicts on the environment and on our wild life and pet animals.

In the garden, bird netting is a common cause of injury or death, for birds and hedgehogs.

Balloon races are great fun but they inevitably and indiscriminately deposit dangerous rubbish in our countryside, rivers and sea.

Fireworks cause noise and pollution at the time but the wire from sparklers and the carcases of spent fireworks and rockets can add to the environmental and welfare problems. Also, do not build bonfires too far in advance. Hibernating animals like hedgehogs make their winter home in them and become accidentally but horribly burned to death.

See also: Fishing & Angling

Animal welfare is not just a 'bunny-hugger' issue, it is something that reflects on our entire civilisation.

The widespread problem affects rivers and river banks, beaches, canals and waterways, coastline and the sea, forests, woodland, pastures, verges, gardens, streets and parks. It is not just a UK issue, as the website links testify.

http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/webcont/newrealweb.nsf/vwa_docref/DEVS6F3M56

Images 'borrowed from the above website:

Animal injury and suffering: a dead hedgehog in a discarded drink can

Animal injury and Suffering: a duck strangled by plastic rings from a 'six-pack'

http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/pages/page.php?cust_id=34

http://www.adoptabeach.org.uk/downloads/beachwatch/6_AppendixA.pdf

http://www.encams.org/home/newsdetail.asp?nw=228

http://www.jspca.org.je/litter_wildlife_fsheet.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/16/pollution.travelnews?gusrc=rss&feed=travel

http://www.countrysideonline.co.uk/plugins/content/content.php?content.302

http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/10/01/nob_rubbish_river_video_feature.shtml

http://www.uksafari.com/archive/litter.htm

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:ntVdhAjUv7wJ:www.primaryresources.co.uk/assembly/docs/rubbish_and_litter.doc+wildlife+injury+litter+rubbish&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=uk (teaching aid)

http://www.cwn.org.uk/environment/organisations/rspca/2000/09/000921-litter-campaign.htm

http://www.midsussex.gov.uk/page.cfm?pageID=2435

http://www.eco-orkney.org.uk/bruck.html

http://homepage.eircom.net/~foxwatchireland/rubbish.htm

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/humane_society_magazines_and_newsletters/all_animals/volume-8-issue-2-spring-2006/dangerous_debris_how_our.html

http://www.ccc.govt.nz/Publications/ResourceCatalogueForSchools/WasteLitter/LitterAbatement.pdf (teaching aid)

http://www.co.chesterfield.va.us/HumanServices/extensionservices/henryheron.asp (teaching aid)

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/schools/181385.cfm (teaching aid)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4370000/newsid_4371100/4371147.stm

http://www.brightnewscotland.org.uk/UserFiles/File/Our%20new%20resources/gslitter.doc (teaching aid)

http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/environmental_management/coast_and_oceans/coastal_management/beach_and_ocean_litter/

http://www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk/things_to_know/countryside_code/protect_plants_and_animals_and_take_your_litter_home

http://www.handbag.com/forums/showthread.php?t=215637

http://www.pisces.demon.co.uk/factshe3.html

http://www.nrm.gov.au/publications/factsheets/me-indicators/estuarine/pubs/animal-kill-by-litter.pdf

http://www.gov.pe.ca/news/getrelease.php3?number=2826

http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/SJON-52EVZC?open

http://www.northdevon.gov.uk/lgcl_doorstep_collection

http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/CMISWebPublic/Binary.ashx?Document=5928

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/animals/newsid_2743000/2743625.stm

http://www.pleasebekind.com/dontlitter.html

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