If 2020 had a symbol, it would be a discarded face mask. Surely by now you’ve seen a few face masks lying limp on the sidewalk and thought, “If it weren’t garbage, it’d kind of look like a modern piece of art.” Well, there’s nothing pretty about where one of those littered face masks ended up – in a dead penguin’s stomach.
Yes, coronavirus has killed yet another thing we adore. A dead Magellanic penguin washed up on Juqueí beach in São Paulo, Brazil, earlier this month and an autopsy revealed it had a face mask in its stomach.
“This case is unequivocal proof that this type of waste causes harm and mortality also in marine fauna, in addition to the irresponsibility of the person who dispenses a mask in an inappropriate place,” Hugo Gallo Neto, the president of Instituto Argonauta, said in a statement. “We have been working with marine litter for 23 years, always trying to educate and rehabilitate animals that have problems. This is a new threat that unfortunately came with the pandemic.”
The mask was likely left behind following celebrations for Brazil’s Independence Day, which drew large (COVID-19-spreading) crowds to the area. Since mid-April, at least 113 face masks were tossed on various São Paulo beaches. Sadly, the malnourished penguin likely thought it was food and ate it. Whether or not the mask was the cause of its death is unclear.
Remember when plastic six-pack rings killed over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year in the ‘80s? No? Well, they did, and face masks could do just as much damage. We will be defined by the refuse we leave behind and this year, that’s face masks. Do the Earth and all its creatures a favor and throw face masks away – in a garbage can for chrissakes – when you’re through with yours.
Rest in peace, little penguin. Sorry humans – and 2020 – are such inconsiderate pricks.
Cover Photo: Theo Allofs (Getty Images)
Get creative: Hilariously Inventive DIY Face Masks That May (Or May Not) Keep Coronavirus Away
MORE NEWS:
Coronavirus club: 15 Celebrity Tweets That Will Calm You to Know We’re All in This Together
Visit the Mandatory Shop for great deals on your very own Mandatory merch.
Follow Mandatory on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Weird News 7/21/2020
-
Men’s Beards May Have Evolved to Sustain Punches to the Head, Random Study Suggests Scientists Are Running Out of Things to Study
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: max-kegfire (Getty Images)
-
Louisiana Man Puts the ‘Ass’ in Bass Pro Shop by Swimming in Fish Tank
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Niklas Jourdan / EyeEm (Getty Images)
-
San Jose Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Their Own Trainer, Rupturing His Testicle (That’s Nuts)
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via Getty Images / Contributor (Getty Images)
-
Apple Delays iPhone 12 Release, Consumers Expected to Just Use Phone They’ve Had a Whole Year Already
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Adam Kuylenstierna / EyeEm (Getty Images)
-
Ivanka Trump Tells Unemployed Americans to ‘Find Something New,’ Which Is Precisely What We Wish Her Whole Family Would Do
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Alex Wong / Staff (Getty Images)
-
Dumb as Rocks: Kanye West Photoshops His Face Onto Mount Rushmore
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: @kanyewest (Twitter)
-
The Internet Had Its Phallic Way With Ivanka Trump Modeling Goya Beans, Hilarious Tweets Ensued
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: @SsnarkIsMyGame (Twitter)
-
Rudy Giuliani Calls NYPD After Being Pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen, Can Only Take a Joke if it Becomes President
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: The Hollywood Reporter, via Getty Images
-
Badass Mother Who Wore Face Mask Through 38-Hour Labor Says ‘If I Can, So Can You’
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Jai Kershner
-
Aww Nuts: Squirrel in Colorado Tests Positive for Bubonic Plague Because 2020
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Picture Alliance via Getty Images
-
Meanwhile in Florida…Woman Sues for Paternity Test on Goats (But Not for the Reason You Think)
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: SOPA Images via Getty Images
-
Trump’s Terrorist Theory of 75-Year-Old Man Shoved by Police Exhibits New Expert Level of Sociopathic Thinking
For more weird news, click here.
Photo Credit: Pool, Getty Images
