Whale Ate 80 Plastic Bags Before Dying Off Coast of Thailand

By Imelda Priveta  •  04 Jun 2018 in News

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According to Thai Marine officials, last Friday afternoon a pilot whale died in Southern Thailand after swallowing 80 bags of plastic. When conservation officials tried to save it from a canal in the Songkhla region, the whale vomited 5 bags. These bags of plastic blocked the whale from eating nutritional food as they collectively weighed around 8kg.

The small male pilot whale had been found ill and unable to swim in the Na Thap Canal last Monday. Since then, environmental officials tried to help float the whale by using boats and created a sunshade for it. They nursed the whale through the week but it couldn’t be saved.

Beach and ocean littering is something that has to be taken seriously. In a recent investigation done by Foresight Future of the Sea Report for the UK government, it was found that the amount of plastic in the ocean will increase a concerning 3 times more in a decade.

Recently, diver Rich Horner made a video of the amount of trash floating around Bali’s main island. It was viewed millions of times.

Thailand is known to be a major user of plastic bags where hundreds of marine animals are killed there yearly. Last month, the government initiated discussions to consider harsher penalties against ocean pollution. Maybe they should follow Penang state by just going plastic free to curb this issue.

The world’s population looks toward to the ocean for food but doesn’t know about what’s happening down there.