Philippines activists reported that the whale was killed by swallowing 40kg plastic on Saturday. As the BBC understood, that sort of pollution regularly kills marine wildlife, whales and turtles often ingest the plastic litter and die.
A Cuvier’s beaked whale killed by plastic litter, the marine giant couldn’t cope with 40 kilos of plastic trash in its stomach. The poor mammal died after being washed ashore in the Philippines, confirmed the ecologists Monday. According to the local experts, whale’s death became one of the worst cases of poisoning.
In fact, the Philippines law is very strict when it is about garbage disposal, but the South Asian country remains one of the world’s biggest ocean polluters due to its reliance on single-use plastic. Thus, the activists say ecological laws are poorly implemented.
The whale died on Saturday in the southern province of Compostela Valley where it was stranded a day earlier, the local regional fisheries bureau confirmed. After the necropsy of the animal, about 40 kilograms of plastic was found. the experts say garbage included grocery bags and rice sacks, the most ‘popular’ throwaway plastic litter in the ocean.
Plastic litter problem in South Asia is growing
Five Asian nations – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand – are regularly reporting the death of marine animals because of plastic bags and other litter. According to 2015 report by environmental campaigner Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, above-mentioned five countries accounted for up to 60% of the plastic waste that ends up in the marine ecosystem.
In June last year, a pilot whale died in Thailand after swallowing 80 plastic bags. Its death came shortly after a report for the UK government revealed the level of plastic in the ocean could triple in a decade unless steps are taken to curb litter.
