When PETA hears about things like it makes our blood boil. What you see below is a fairly normal set up on stalls across Marrakech, but reflects just a tiny percentage of the true number of cages that are on display. Some contain around 50 baby turtles that are stacked 3 bodies deep, with a similar situation for adults also. The cages stand in the full sun and heat of Morocco all day (85 degrees in March), some without food or just a bit of old lettuce or dry carrots. The turtles can be seen placed in cash drawers, on top of counters or large burlap bags of spices as decoration for days on end.

They are treated like pet rocks or “lucky” rabbits’ feet, or just as decoration or garnishes for other products being sold at the shop. Some of the turtles have their faces sunken in from dehydration and experience a slow death, with eyes glazed, bulging and crusted, or shut entirely. When the turtles die it’s no problem for the shop owners. The shells are turned into small 4 stringed guitar/banjo instruments stretched with goats skins and painted for the tourist trade.

So, the moral of the story is this: If you go to Morocco and you see this kind of thing happening, make sure you express your disgust and outrage and warn them that you’ll be telling your tourist friends back home about it too. The agency you may travel with should get to know about it also. Tourist money is important to any country, and the Brits certainly do like to head over to Morocco for their holidays. Hit them where it hurts – in the pocket.

It’s official – plastic is killing our wildlife. The BBC reports that all albatrosses living in the Pacific’s Midway Islands contain plastic, as a result of feeding on human waste products like toothbrushes, bags and bottle tops.

A big thank you to media like the Daily Mail for their recent campaign to banish plastic shopping bags from the UK. The plight of sea turtles and other sea borne creatures reached the limelight thanks to the Mail’s huge article and online petition to the Prime Minister. Turtles mistake the translucent plastic which litters our seas for jellyfish – their favourite food. According to the Mail, “Once swallowed by the turtle, the tough plastic becomes lodged in its gut, sealing the fate of the sea creature. The plastic is indigestible and wraps around the turtle’s insides. Slowly, agonisingly, the animal starves to death.”

Clearly this is not on, and together we should work on avoiding this occurring. Plus there’s the whole issue of the impact on the environment, including the fact that most plastic bags takes up to 1,000 years to rot. Sure, some supermarkets have brought out bio-degradable carrier bags, but there has to be a more efficient way.

So what can we do to cater for our shopping needs? Use ‘bags for life’ which are made of canvas and other hardy materials, and also our shops should charge for carrier bags rather than giving them out for free (you’ve got to admit, it is annoying to be given a bag for one small item, right?). We can’t be expected to be plastic angels (or foes?) and ditch all plastic from our lives overnight, but if we all try to eliminate some here and there it can only help.

Image: Clean Green Bags / Creative Commons