In yet another incident of whales showing up dead with plastic in their stomach, a pregnant sperm whale washed up on a beach outside Porto Cervo in Sardinia, Italy.
According to National Geographic, scientists and veterinarians found a dead baby whale along with almost 22 Kg of plastic in the adult whale’s stomach. There were also some remains of a squid the whale had devoured but she never received its nutrients since her intestines were jammed by plastic.
Almost two thirds of her stomach was filled with plastic.
The plastic waste included fishing nets, fishing lines, plastic bags (some so fresh the barcodes were still readable), plastic pipes, and plastic plates.
Reportedly, even the marine biologists at SEAME Sardinia–which is a nonprofit organisation that studies and protects cetaceans around the region–were shocked to discover the amount of plastic.
Luca Bittau, a marine biologist at SEAME Sardinia said,
I never saw such big quantity of plastic. It was like our usual life was there, but inside this stomach.
People on the internet have also expressed their grief over this incident.
Just last month, another whale washed up dead in the Philippines with 40 Kg of plastic in its stomach.
Animals are paying with their lives for our lifestyle.