One Redditor came across a disturbing scene in the desert: a cow eating a plastic bag left hanging from a tree.
On the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, a frustrated poster shared a video they recorded after spotting a herd of cows in an Arizona desert.
The video showed two cows grazing next to a tree with plastic bags tied to its branches, with one of the cows chewing on one of the bags.
(click here to watch the video if the embed does not appear.)
"This should be a wake up call to us all of the effects of plastics and littering in the environment," the original poster wrote.
Animals roaming in littered grazing areas can easily mistake plastic for food and ingest it.
There have been cases of large amounts of plastic found in cows' stomachs — in one instance, a veterinarian in India removed over 22 pounds of plastic during a necropsy.
Marine wildlife face similar risks. One study found several chunks of plastic accumulated in the stomachs of loggerhead turtles that had washed up dead on shore in Cyprus.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ingesting plastic can lead to internal injury, loss of nutrition, intestinal blockage, starvation, and even death.
Beyond impacts on wildlife and the environment, plastic waste can also affect humans.
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Because cattle are part of the food system, the consequences of plastic ingestion do not stop with the animal.
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Save $1,000 this year 💸 Do No Trash warned that plastic cannot be digested by animals and builds up in their intestines, leaking toxic additives into their blood. Research has shown that plastic toxins can transfer into cows' milk, exposing both calves and people to the same contaminants.
According to the United Nations, plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose, but it doesn't completely disappear — it breaks down into smaller pieces and becomes microplastics.
Ingestion is one of the main ways that microplastics can enter the human body, according to the U.N. Environment Programme. Microplastics have been linked to adverse health effects.
One study found that microplastics could be responsible for various health impacts, including cancers, birth defects, and lung disease, The Guardian reported.
Using less plastic and supporting initiatives like cleanup projects can help reduce plastic waste and curb the impacts of plastic pollution on humans, wildlife, and the environment.
Commenters on the Reddit post expressed their outrage over human negligence and littering that left the cows vulnerable to eating plastic.
"This is far more than mildly infuriating," one Reddit user wrote.
"That isn't litter, someone has hung those bags there! WTH," another commented.
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