January 20, 2020
Plastic threat to toroa
The body of a young Toroa or Albatross that died in the Department of Conservation's Palmerston North Wildlife base is to be returned to Ngāti Tangoio at Whirinaki, the beach near Napier where it was found in an emaciated condition last week.
An autopsy found a flattened 500ml plastic bottle in the toroa'sstomach, as well as fragments of a balloon, suggesting starvation was a likely cause of death,with the plastic items obstructing the stomach and likelycausing pain.
Toroa can live for 40years.
In the 2018/19breeding season, DOC staff found plastic fragments were found in14 of the 16 regurgitations of northern royal albatross chicks at the colony at Pukekura/Tairoa Head in Dunedin.
That included items like bottle lids and infant formula scoops which were eaten by their parents at sea.
James Lyver from the Maungaharuru-Tangitū Trust says the Toroa is a taonga species so its death could be seen as a tohu to remind humans of their kaitiakitanga responsibilities and the need to address plastic pollution in the moana.
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