The heartbreaking scene that was too much for David Attenborough
Sir David Attenborough has spoken of his heartbreak at the way discarded plastic rubbish is affecting the natural world.
During the filming of his latest series, Blue Planet II, the 91-year-old conservationist and wildlife documentary-maker witnessed a young albatross lying dead next to its mother after choking on a plastic toothpick.
"What comes out of the mouth of the adult?", he said after watching the mother feed its young.
"Not sand eels and not fish and not squid which is what they mostly eat, but plastic.
"It's heartbreaking ... heartbreaking."
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Writing in a Radio Times column, Attenborough recently drew attention to the eight million tonnes of plastic being thrown into the sea every year and the devastating effect it can have on wildlife.
"Surely we have a responsibility to care for the planet on which we live?", he wrote.
"The future of humanity, and indeed all life on Earth, now depends on us doing so.
"Plastic is now found everywhere in the ocean, from its surface to its greatest depths."
