Plastic Has Already #Killed 500,000 #Animals on These Tiny #Islands

These Islands Are Covered in Plastic, and It's Killing Native Animals by the Thousands. Sign to Demand Change. Sign Now Dear friends, To us, finding plastic waste on a beach might be unsightly, but for the cute hermit crab, it could be downright deadly. This tragic fate is especially common in some of the world's most remote islands where ocean plastic washes up on shore with a shocking frequency. A recent study focusing on plastic pollution and its effects on hermit crabs took aim at two specific islands; the Australian territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and the British territory of Henderson Island in the South Pacific. Sign to demand a thorough cleanup on the plastic-infested islands of Cocos and Henderson. Researchers wanted to find out how plastic debris affected hermit crab survival. They scoured four islands for plastic bottles and other refuse that could serve as a tempting home for a crab. These bottles were often tilted with the spout upwards so that if a crab made its way into the bottle, it wouldn't be able to get out. In short, the plastic worked as a deathtrap. Their survey results were shocking. They found one to two dead crabs per square meter were being killed by plastic trash. Extrapolating their findings to the remaining islands, they estimate that more than half a million crabs had died in total on Cocos and Henderson together. Their survey results were shocking. They found one to two dead crabs per square meter were being killed by plastic trash. Extrapolating their findings to the remaining islands, they estimate that more than half a million crabs had died in total on Cocos and Henderson together. Hermit crabs play an invaluable role in their environment by dispersing seeds and aerating and fertilizing the soil.The death toll is as staggering as it is worrying. Half a million dead crabs are likely to have a severe impact on the local ecology.  These animals should not die because their island homes are being ruined with millions of human trash. According to the study, there are 414 million pieces of plastic on the beaches of the Cocos, and 38 million more pieces litter the beaches of Henderson Island. Please sign the petition and ask Australia and the United Kingdom to clean up their mess in the Cocos and on Henderson Island. Thank you,   Andrew M. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. 500,000 adorable hermit crabs have died because these countries refuse to clean up after themselves. Sign the petition.