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Digit Entrapment Due to Plastic Waste in a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl (Bubo lacteus)
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This case report describes the treatment of a Verreaux's eagle owl whose digit became entrapped in plastic waste debris, illustrating the direct physical harm macroplastics can cause to terrestrial wildlife. It highlights the underreported threat that plastic pollution poses to land animals beyond the well-documented marine impacts.
Plastic waste has become a hot topic in sustainability and conservation, helped in part by popular documentaries which have highlighted the issue to the general public. Much of the current literature focuses on the effect of microplastics in the marine environment, with very little information on macroplastic interactions or the terrestrial environment. In this report, the management of digit constriction due to macroplastic debris in a Verreaux’s eagle owl (Bubo lacteus) is presented, and the role of zoos in decreasing littering behaviour both within the collection and in the wider global context is discussed.
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Researchers developed and compared procedures for extracting microplastics from owl pellets, identifying optimal methods that efficiently recovered both prey remains and microplastic particles without damage—providing a validated protocol for using owl pellets as passive biomonitors of environmental microplastic contamination.
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Analysis of 292 long-eared owl pellets from agricultural, steppe, and forest habitats in Turkey found microplastics in all habitat types, with fibers dominant and concentrations correlated with prey abundance and intensity of nearby human activity. This demonstrates that microplastics are moving through terrestrial food webs via small mammal prey, reaching top predators and confirming trophic transfer as a key exposure pathway even in wildlife far from direct pollution sources.
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Researchers analyzed barn owl pellets as a non-invasive method to assess microplastic contamination in terrestrial ecosystems. The study found confirmed microplastics in 33% of pellets collected from three agricultural areas, with polyethylene terephthalate microfibres being the most common type, suggesting that barn owl pellet analysis could serve as a cost-effective monitoring tool for terrestrial microplastic pollution.
Microplastics and terrestrial birds: a review on plastic ingestion in ecological linchpins
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Researchers reviewed how microplastic pollution affects terrestrial birds — key ecological indicators — finding documented harms including intestinal blockage and developmental disruption, with implications for entire food webs since birds that ingest plastics can concentrate and transfer contamination to other species, including humans.
Documentation of microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of terrestrial raptors in central California, USA
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Researchers found microplastics in the digestive tracts of all 16 terrestrial raptors (hawks and owls) examined on California's central coast, averaging over 12 particles per bird. The study is significant because it shows microplastic contamination has spread into land-based food chains, not just aquatic ones, raising questions about how plastic pollution affects predatory bird populations.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.