Another day, another tragedy in the animal kingdom thanks to us humans.

In a report by NBC News, some 80 pieces of plastic rubbish weighing about 8kg were found in the stomach of a pilot whale that died in Thailand after a five-day effort to save it.

The poor thing was first discovered on Monday in a canal in the southern province of Songkhla. Despite receiving treatment from a team of veterinarians, it spat out five plastic bags on Friday and later died. The subsequent autopsy then revealed the shocking amount of plastic found inside the whale’s stomach.

Freakin’ horrific.

Here’s a video detailing the failed rescue operation and the autopsy, with some images that are going to be upsetting:

Eish.

Jatuporn Buruspat, the head of the Marine and Coastal Resources department, reckons that the whale – which mainly feeds on squid – probably thought the floating plastic bags was food.

Sadly, the consumption led to its unfortunate demise.

And it’s not the only soul that’s been affected by humans polluting the ocean. Per the report, eight million tons of plastic — bottles, packaging and other waste — around the world are dumped into the ocean every year, killing marine life and entering the human food chain.

Thailand is one of the places that use a helluva lot of plastic bags, but authorities are hard at work to try to encourage people to use reusable bags.

Buruspat said that the department plans to raise awareness of the issue of plastic pollution on World Oceans Day on June 8:

We will use the whale case and invite all sectors to show their intentions on how to reduce the use of plastic in Thailand.

It might not bring the whale back to life, but hopefully it’ll help prevent other marine life from suffering the same fate.

Curse us bloody careless humans.

Also, while we’re talking about plastics and recycling – Woolies, how about you guys start taking a closer look at how much of your packaging is not recyclable? Just a thought…

[source:nbcnews]