A whale in Thailand has died after eating more nearly eight kilograms worth of plastic bags and packaging.
Jatuporn Burutpat, director-general of Thailand's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, told CNN that locals found the male short-finned pilot whale on May 28 off the shores of the country’s Songkhla province.
He said veterinarians and volunteers worked to save the whale for several days as it vomited small pieces of plastic.
A post on the Facebook page for a local whale conservation group, ThaiWhales, described the scene as rescuers tried to help the animal. The group said the mammal could barely swim and couldn’t open its mouth.
During a necropsy, veterinarians pulled more than 80 plastic bags weighing 7.7 kilograms from the whale’s stomach.
Plastics debris found in the ocean is becoming a growing problem around the globe. More than 7.2 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into the ocean every year, according to Plastic Oceans, a group raising awareness of plastic pollution.
Burutpat said the Thai government will bring the issue up during World Oceans Day on June 8.
With files from CNN
29 พ.ค. 2561 พี่สันติ นิลวัฒน์ หัวหน้ากลุ่มสัตว์ทะเลหายาก ศูนย์วิจัยฯอ่าวไทยตอนล่าง แจ้งข่าวให้เราทราบเรื่อง...
Posted by ThaiWhales on Thursday, 31 May 2018
