From ocean depths to mountain peaks, humans have littered the planet with plastic. Plastic particles have infiltrated even the most remote and seemingly pristine regions of the planet, even forests. As a result, wild animals often end up chewing discarded plastic which endangers their health. Recently, a video captured by wildlife photographer Deep Kathikar shows the extent of the plastic menace. The video shows a tiger picking up a plastic bottle from a waterhole in the Tadoba National Park in Maharashtra.
According to Mr Kathikar, the tiger featured is the cub of Tigress Bhanuskhindi from Ramdegi Hills and the footage was captured in December 2023. The video starts to show the majestic tiger removing the plastic from the water and then walking away with the bottle gripped in its mouth.
''Sweet gesture by the Tiger. We will try to keep our jungles clean. Cub of Bhanuskhindi , Ramdegi Hills,'' the video was captioned.
Watch the video here:
The video left internet users heartbroken and concerned, while some called the situation ''alarming.''
Indian Forest Service officer Susanta Nanda also shared the video on his X account and urged people not to leave behind plastic trash in the wild. He wrote, ''Why should the wild clean the garbage of the (un)civilised. Please stop carrying plastics & styrofoams into the wilderness.'' He revealed in another post that the tiger picked up the plastic bottle and threw it in front of the videographer's car. ''Message was loud & clear to all of us,'' Mr Nanda added.
One user wrote, ''It's beautiful and sad at the same time. I feel ashamed that a tiger had to clean up after us.'' Another commented, ''Wow, what a powerful video! This compelling video raising awareness about the need for a plastic ban is deserving of submission to various platforms, where it is likely to receive widespread acclaim.''
A third wrote, ''Those is such a poignant footage…. So sad to see the extent of damage we are doing to our planet.''
A fourth added, ''This is hard to see that at what level the destruction is happening let's take responsibility for our planet and our surroundings and keep it clean and green.''
A fifth said, ''This video is so full of pain. Speechless.'' A sixth stated, ''Sadness & anger together on seeing this video. Shame on us humans who litter around everywhere else, except probably our own homes. It's time for cameras to catch the culprits and ban them from visiting any jungles in the future, rather than having them for Tiger counts!''
