How this whale got nearly 20 pounds of plastic in its stomach
by Elaina Zachos 10 Jun 2018 04:24 UTC
The whale was found in Thailand struggling to swim; a necropsy found 80 plastic shopping bags and other debris had caused it to starve © Elaina Zachos
Last week, a small male pilot whale was found struggling, unable to swim or breathe, in a Thai canal near the Malaysia border. Rescuers fought to save the animal by deploying buoys to keep it afloat as veterinarians tended to it and propped up red umbrellas to protect its exposed skin from the sun's rays.
The whale vomited up five plastic bags during the rescue attempt. It died on Friday, five days after the attempt began.
A necropsy revealed that more than 17 pounds of plastic had clogged up the whale's stomach, making it impossible for it to ingest nutritional food. This waste was in the form of 80 shopping bags and other plastic debris.
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