Giant of the ocean killed by eating 64lb of plastic
IN decades to come he would have grown into a gentle giant of the seas, a leviathan with a lifespan to match that of a human.
Instead, this young whale lies dead on a beach after eating an astonishing 64lb of plastic waste – dumped in the ocean by an unthinking mankind.
Inside the 32ft sperm whale’s stomach and intestines were black bin bags, netting, ropes and even a plastic jerry can.
Scientists said that the junk he had eaten, perhaps mistaking the plastic bags for squid, killed him by blocking and rupturing his intestines.
The animal was found stranded on a beach in Cabo de Palos in Murcia, about 90 miles south of Alicante in southern Spain, at the end of February.
He weighed six tons and was around half the length of a full-grown sperm whale, which can reach 65ft. There are estimated to be only around 100,000 of them worldwide.
The disturbing facts of his demise have been documented in the findings of a post-mortem examination carried out by Spanish officials.
The Daily Mail has led campaigns against plastic waste for the past ten years, including the call to charge 5p to cut the number of single-use plastic bags and for a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.
Veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough highlighted the plight of the world’s oceans in his Blue Planet II series, triggering a huge public reaction against throwaway plastic waste and its deadly impact on nature.
Yesterday campaigners said the whale was the latest victim in the natural world of ‘man’s careless behaviour’.
The regional government in Murcia has started a campaign against the dumping of plastic waste in the ocean in response. Consuelo Rosauro, the director-general for the natural environment in the Murcian government, said plastic waste in the sea was now one of the biggest threats to marine life around the world in the last decade. She said: ‘Many animals get trapped in the rubbish or ingest great quantities of plastic which end up causing their death.’
Experts at El Valle Wildlife Rescue Centre who carried out the examination on the young whale said the rubbish had built up inside its guts and it had been unable to expel the blockage. This led to a fatal case of peritonitis – a rupture of the intestines.
Hugo Tagholm, of Surfers Against Sewage, which campaigns against plastic pollution, said: ‘Any whale washing up on our beaches having eaten plastic rubbish is a shocking story which brings the plastic pollution crisis to the front of our minds. This great leviathan has effectively been killed by our careless behaviour and the broken systems that are letting plastics escape into our oceans.’
Danny Groves of the charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation said: ‘The story of this poor whale is heart-breaking but sadly becoming more common.
‘Up to 95 per cent of litter that makes its way into the oceans comes from our towns and cities, and 56 per cent of all whale and dolphin species have been recorded eating plastics they’ve mistaken for food like squid.’
Last year researchers found more than 30 bags and other plastic waste in the stomach of a Cuvier’s beaked whale found off the coast of Norway, including a Walkers crisp packet from Britain.
In 2013 a sperm whale was washed up on Spain’s south coast that had swallowed 37lb of plastic waste dumped into the sea from greenhouses that produce vegetables for British supermarkets.
Thirteen sperm whales washed up on beaches around Germany in 2016 had plastic or other rubbish in their stomachs, including car parts, buckets, and in one case a 50ft fishing net.