Dead sperm whale had plastic cups and bags in the stomach

a Sad discovery to the West coast of Scotland: members of the group of Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme (Smass), which is monitored on behalf of the British government Beach on the coast of Scotland and studied, discovered at the autopsy of a dead sperm whale about 100 kilograms of plastic waste in its stomach. Nets, ropes, plastic cups, bags, gloves: "All the Material was as a big ball in the stomach, and some of it looked like it had been there longer," wrote the organization on Monday in a Facebook Post.

Although the garbage had not influenced the bowels of the sea mammal, so it is quite conceivable that he was at least a factor in the beaching, it means more. Nevertheless, the quantity was a concern, and to show the dangers of water pollution, and lost fishing dishes went hand in hand.

Lost Fishing gear: A fishing net in the stomach of the sperm whale. Image: Smass

That plastic garbage ends up in the stomach of sea animals, is not uncommon. Already three years ago, U.S. researchers have predicted that within forty years, comprise 99 percent of all the seabirds of plastic parts in the stomach.

it was not Unusual in this case is the sheer volume, said Andrew Brownlow, head of Smass, on Tuesday to the New York Times. "This is an unusual, but not unprecedented case. Sperm whales and other deep-diving beaked whales stranded again and again with a drop in the stomach on the coasts of Europe." Further studies should give an indication of how it had come to this amount of waste in the stomach of the sperm whale.

Also, ropes were components of the waste tangle in the stomach of a sea mammal. Image: Smass

The dead whale has now been buried, writes the organization in your Facebook-Post. Not many options in the room had been. To move, "the 20-Tönner, was not an Option, nor, to drag him into the sea. We had to put him on the spot bury."

Created: 03.12.2019, 16:00 clock