Breaking News English

A BBC team has filmed disturbing [footing / footage] of the devastating impact plastic pollution is having [in / on] seabirds in the Tasman Sea, which is between Australia and New Zealand. The film crew was working on the [remotely / remote] Lord Howe Island for a new wildlife [documentary / documented] called "Drowning in Plastic". They filmed many birds that had died because their stomachs were [literal / literally] too full of plastic to be able to eat [any / many] food. The birds starved to [death / dead] because there was no room in their stomachs for food. The documentary team [filming / filmed] marine biologists working on the island to try and save the birds. The scientists [raptured / captured] hundreds of chicks and physically removed plastic from their stomachs to give them a chance of [survive / survival] .

Marine biologist Jennifer Lavers explained what was [happening / happened] to the birds. She said the birds were [predators / prey] that will eat anything. She said: "When you put plastic in the ocean, it means they have no [able / ability] to [detect / defect] plastic from non-plastic, so they eat it." Adult birds feed the plastic to their chicks, [obvious / oblivious] to what they are feeding [it / them] . Professor Lavers [lamented / placated] that most of the plastic is "entirely preventable". She said: "We find plastic clothes pegs and plastic tooth brushes. Those could easily be [shaped / swapped] out for other materials - aluminium or wood. My own toothbrush is made [by / of] bamboo." TV presenter Liz Bonnin said: "We saw...90 pieces of plastic come out [of / off] one of the chicks."