Whale dies after swallowing 40kg of plastic bags
The 15ft-long mammal, which was found off the coast of Mabini in the Philippines, showed signs of dehydration and starvation.
Monday 18 March 2019 14:16, UK
A whale that washed up in the southern Philippines died after swallowing 40kg of plastic bags.
Marine biologist Darrell Blatchley was called to recover the 4.7m-long (15.4ft) mammal after it was reported to be trapped off the coast of Mabini on Saturday.
The Cuvier's beaked whale had been vomiting up blood and showed signs of starvation and dehydration.
Mr Blatchley, who is also president of the D'Bone Collector Museum in Davao, told Sky News: "We returned the animal to the museum's facility and began the autopsy.
"Upon reaching the stomach I knew this whale had died due to plastic ingestion.
"I was not prepared for the amount of plastic I saw.
"The animal had roughly 40kg of rice sacks, grocery bags, banana plantation bags and general plastic bags in it stomach.
"There were 16 rice sacks in total.
"It was so bad the plastic was beginning to calcify.
"The Philippine people are a proud people, but sadly they are not in relation to taking care of the environment.
"The Philippines needs to change from the children up or there will be nothing left."
Images posted on Facebook show the whale's corpse being towed to shore, then sheets of plastic being lifted out of its stomach.
Mr Blatchley and other marine biologists at his museum have recovered 61 whales and dolphins in the last 10 years, but said that their latest discovery was "the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale".
The museum called on the Philippines government to take action against people dumping plastic into the sea.
A whale was found dead in southern Thailand in June after it had swallowed more than 80 plastic bags.