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Headline: British Photographer Captures Wild Jaguar Playing With Discarded Plastic Bottle

Caption: A British wildlife photographer has captured shocking scenes of a young jaguar playing with a discarded plastic drinks bottle in the wild. Guide and presenter Paul Goldstein photographed these disturbing scenes in the Pantanal, Brazil this week. He issues an impassioned, outspoken and frankly rage-filled plea about the use and abuse of plastics. “The actual scenario was distressing but more importantly I hope this photograph becomes a poster child for plastic abuse and its hideous worldwide proliferation. Guiding a dozen people to see jaguars in their own vast wetland back yard is and always will be a thrill, but scenes like this are not. This bottle would have floated downstream during the wet season but it must have had some scent to attract this boy. This is a three-year-old boy who played with the soft drink container, before dropping it, then sadly retrieving the offending bottle. “Plastic bags and bottles are a blight. I find it astonishing that countries like Rwanda, Kenya and the staggeringly poor Tanzania have banned them (and will remove them from incoming tourist's bags), yet, in the UK we are still permitting supermarkets to SELL them to us. It is ridiculous as are the penalties for littering. Plastic bottles are recyclable yet they littler vast tracts of the world. “I hope this image shocks people but more importantly I hope it stirs politicians into action as drastic plastic abuse has reached tipping point. Many people are incredibly conscious of this issue now, making huge steps to cut or eradicate their plastic intake, yet these worthy actions will only really matter when governments stop 'bottling brave decisions.” Paul is a wildlife photographer and was guiding for Exodus Travels (www.exodus.co.uk) in Brazil.

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