Photo of Tiger Carrying a Plastic Bottle, Tweeted by a Popular Bollywood Star, Is Making Us All Feel Like Trash

Actor and Bollywood star Randeep Hooda recently brought a serious environmental issue to the world’s attention by posting a very unusual – and unsettling – picture on social media. Known for his love for animals, Hooda posted a photo of a tiger with an empty plastic bottle in his mouth on Twitter, pointing to the problem of human-created Pollution and how it affects wildlife.

Unfortunately, we have had many opportunities to become less and less shocked by the sight of marine animals and birds coming across pieces of plastic, collecting, or ingesting it. However, to see an animal like a tiger in this kind of a scenario is (luckily) still a startling sight. Hooda’s tweet raised questions about Pollution in national parks – since, even though littering is banned in any national park, the bottle from the picture still somehow found its way into the animal’s space.

The startling picture of a tiger holding a plastic bottle generated many comments and responses – some of them pointing to the government as the responsible party, others arguing for stricter execution of rules in national parks. In any case, the issue was in the much-needed spotlight.

Hooda clarified that the picture he posted comes from the Ranthambore National Park of Rajasthan, which is why he tagged state chief minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje in his tweet.

Plastic pollution is currently one of the biggest environmental challenges that needs our urgent attention. Every year, we produce around 300 million tons of plastic. Around 8.8 million tons of it end up as non-biodegradable plastic trash littering the oceans and threatening marine wildlife. With every passing day, it becomes more and more clear that marine animals aren’t the only ones threatened by the abundance of plastic Pollution – and that, if we do not fundamentally rethink our relationship with plastic, its negative effects will be progressively broader and more menacing for a growing number of species, including our own.

We can all help to reduce this monumental problem by starting with our own plastic waste. To learn how to minimize your plastic footprint, check out One Green Planet’s #CrushPlastic campaign!

Image source: Randeep Hooda/Twitter