A dead whale has been found in the Philippines with shopping bags, rice sacks, and other pieces of plastic inside its stomach.
Staff from the D’Bone Collector Museum in the Philippine island of Mindanao shared pictures on Facebook on Sunday, after the juvenile male curvier beaked whale was found dead on Saturday.
They said it died after ingesting “the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale” including 16 rice sacks and multiple shopping bags – all weighing 40kg.
“It’s disgusting,” staff wrote on the post. “Action must be taken by the government against those who continue to treat the waterways and ocean as dumpsters.”
In February, the museum also found a dead sperm whale with plastic inside its stomach. And in November 2018, a dead whale was found in Indonesia with 1,000 piece of plastic inside its stomach – including flip-flops.
Environmental researchers are increasingly concerned about the impact of widespread plastic pollution on wildlife and the environment. An RSPCA report claimed last month that there has been a 22% rise in incidents affecting animals that involve plastic litter. There were 579 incidents of animals suffering because of plastic in 2018, up from 473 in 2015.
“This shocking rise in plastic litter incidents suggests that plastic is a growing threat to animals,” RSPCA’s head of wildlife, Adam Grogan said at the time.
“From seals with deep infected wounds caused by plastic frisbees cutting into their necks to swans and geese trapped in fishing line or netting – plastic is clearly having an increasing impact on animal welfare.”