Heartbreaking News! Beached Whale Found Dead In The Philippines Had Ingested Almost 90 Pounds of Plastic Garbage

Photo by D’Bone Collector Museum Inc.

A heartbreaking scene that is becoming all too common as another dead whale has washed up on shore as a result of human ignorance and the impact we have left behind, this time in Mabini, Philippines.

On Saturday, Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley received a call regarding an emaciated-looking young whale that was swimming in the area. Unfortunately, by the time anyone arrived, the whale had already passed away.

D’ Bone Collector Museum shared on their Facebook page, “Now we are traveling back to Davao with a Cuviers Beaked Whale. Doing this is not just for our gain but mainly to give education and for people to realize how magnificent these animals are.”

Later the group posted that after investigating the whale’s death, they discovered that it had shockingly ingested nearly 90lbs of plastic waste and that the whale had died from “dehydration and starvation.”

A disturbing plastic pollution report from 2015 by the Ocean Conservancy charity and the McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment, ranked the Philippines as the third-largest source of plastic waste that ends up in our oceans, behind China and Indonesia.

With more animals continuing to die from ingesting plastic pollution, it should be a huge awakening that we have to push for stricter laws to help combat the amount of trash that ends up in our oceans.

Last year, a sperm whale had washed up in Indonesia with 13 pounds of plastic in its stomach. Another incident occurred when a pilot whale was discovered to have ingested 17 pounds of plastic, including 80 trash bags.

According to UNESCO, In 2015, scientists estimated that around 90% of all seabirds have ingested some amount of plastic and estimated that 100,000 marine mammals die because of plastic pollution each year.

It is believed that the amount of plastic in the ocean is set to triple in a decade if the amount of litter is not contained, making it even more devastating to imagine the increased number of marine animals that will continue to die from ingesting plastic.

Whether it be bringing reusable bags to the grocery store, or participating in local beach clean ups, we can all do our part to help clean up our oceans for the sake of our planet and its species.

To learn more ways to help reduce your plastic use, Click Here!