Pollution is dirtying air, water and land with waste that people don’t want. Pollution threatens wildlife all over the world.
Homes, farms, factories and power stations all give off waste. It drifts in the air, seeps through the soil or spreads in rivers, lakes and oceans.
Thousands of reindeer died after the nuclear accident at Chernobyl.
Many countries have strict laws to prevent pollution. But accidents still cause pollution.
In 1986, the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in Russia let off a cloud of radiation. The cloud drifted on the wind, poisoning lichen and other vegetation in northern Europe. Reindeer that fed on the lichen were poisoned and had to be killed.
Acid rain has wiped out fish in many lakes.
Factories, power stations and cars give off waste gases as they burn fuel such as coal and oil. The gases mix with water vapour in clouds to make a weak acid, which later falls as acid rain.
The acid kills trees and plants, and drains off into rivers to harm fish, frogs and snails. In Canada, over 30,000 lakes have been damaged by acid rain.
This seal is covered in oil spilled by a tanker.
Oil spills at sea cause pollution. The sticky, black oil spreads over the water surface. It clogs the feathers and fur of birds and mammals, which get sick and die.
In 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was wrecked off the coast of Alaska. A huge oil slick polluted 2,000 kilometres of coastline. Half a million seabirds and 5,000 sea otters died.
Litter can kill wildlife like this seagull.
Pollution includes litter that people drop carelessly. Broken glass, rusty tins and plastic can cut, choke or poison wild animals.
Plastic bags left on the beach drift out to sea, where sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish and swallow them. The animals die of suffocation. So always take your litter home with you.
Picture Credit : Google
