Calf dies of "shock" after swallowing 40 kilos of plastic | Animal World Blog

"This whale contains the most plastic we've seen in a cetacean," the museum statement said. Its owner, marine biologist Darrell Blatchley, quoted by the newspaper The Guardian, note that during the last decade, his museum found 57 whales and dolphins killed by the ingestion of plastic and other types of waste.

In November, a whale was found dead in Indonesia with over 1,000 plastic objects in the stomach. A year ago, the body of a sperm whale died after eating 29 kilos of plastic appeared in Murcia.

"It's unpleasant, the government should take the initiative against those who continue to treat waterways and oceans as landfills," says the message on the social network, referring to the presence of plastic in the waters, a growing phenomenon. Between 1960 and 2015, it was multiplied by 200, according to an estimate from the Our World in Data portal at the University of Oxford. Although the major plastic producing countries are developed countries, those with medium and low incomes manage them less well and pollute more.

The damage that plastics cause to marine animals, both by restricting their movements and by ingesting them, is attested by numerous scientific studies. It is known that more than 200 species of marine animals, including turtles and 59% of whales, ingest this waste. The damage that causes them goes from the sensation of false satiety that reduces their consumption of food to ulcers and perforations of their digestive organs. And, in many cases, these wounds result in death.