The body of a 31-feet-long sperm whale washed ashore in Indonesia’s Kapota Island on Monday and upon inspection it was found that eating plastic could be a reason for the mammal’s death.
WWF Indonesia posted a picture of a dead sperm whale with the breakdown of things that were found in its stomach.
This translates to:
Hard plastic (19 pieces, 140g), plastic bottles (4 pieces, 150g), plastic bags (25 pieces, 260g), flip-flops (2 pieces, 270g), pieces of string (3.26kg) & plastic cups (115 pieces, 750g).
Regarding the matter, a WWF Indonesia official said:
Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful.
Well, they are.
Plastic waste on sea shores is not a new problem; it has persisted for decades.
Animals have been dying, species are getting endangered.
But we won’t learn a lesson, will we?
Because lives of animals don’t matter. So what if a whale died? That’s okay. If a plastic cup costs the life of an animal. So be it.
Earlier this year, another whale that had washed ashore, had eaten 80 plastic bags.