40 Kg Of Plastic Found In Stomach Of Dead Whale In The Philippines

Plastic is dangerous, not just for human beings but for marine animals too. D’ Bone Collector Museum Inc. recently found a dead whale and while conducting the autopsy, they found 40 kg of plastic inside the body of the whale.
A juvenile male curvier beaked whale was found dead by the team of D’Bone Collector this Saturday, March 16, 2019, in the Philippines. In a revelation that is shocking to even the Marine biologists and volunteers of the museum, “this whale had the most plastic they had ever seen in a whale”.

In a Facebook post, the museum said in the autopsy they found “40 kilos of plastic bags, including 16 rice sacks. 4 banana plantation style bags and multiple shopping bags”. They will be putting the list of other materials soon. The whale died due to ‘gastric shock’ after ingesting 40 kg of plastic.

In an interview with The New York Times, Darrell Blatchley, owner of the D’Bone Collector Museum in Davao City, Phillippines said that this is the worst collection of plastic inside an animal he had ever seen. “The plastic in some areas was so compact it was almost becoming calcified, almost like a solid brick,” he added.

In the damning post, the museum said that action must be taken by the government against those who continue to treat the waterways and ocean as dumpsters.

The Logical Indian Take

Five Asian countries — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand — contribute more than 60% of the plastic that is found in the ocean. These countries are dumping more plastic in the ocean than the entire world combined.

While we have been made to believe that plastic is an indispensable part of our lives, it is destroying everything around us. According to UN data, about one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute around the world. Also, up to five trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. This means that almost half of the plastic created in the world is thrown away after using it once.

All this plastic ends up either in landfills or in the ocean. The marine life is heavily endangered because of plastic. Reports of aquatic animals dying of plastic pollution are increasing every day. A study from 2015 found around 44,000 incidences of animals getting entangled in plastic debris since the 1960s. Plastic, that disintegrates into smaller pieces, are often eaten by smaller fish, which then ultimately end up in our stomach. That is carcinogenic for human beings. Please, save the earth and say no to plastic.

Also Read: Researchers Find 12,000 Pieces Of Microplastic Per Litre Of Arctic Ice