The dead whale had 115 plastic cups and 2 flip flops in the stomach

Jakarta, Indonesia – A dead whale that has failed in eastern Indonesia had a large pile of plastic waste in its stomach, including 115 plastic cups and two flip flops, said a park official. This discovery has worried environmentalists and government officials in one of the world's largest polluting countries for plastics.

Rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found the 31-foot sperm whale rotting carcass on Monday night near the park in Southeast Sulawesi Province. Environmentalists had reported to villagers that villagers surrounded the dead whale and began cutting down the rotting carcass, said Park Chief Heri Santoso.

According to Santoso, researchers from the WWF Wildlife Protection Group and the Park Conservation Academy have discovered in his stomach about 13 pounds of plastic waste, including four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, a bag nylon and more than 1,000 other pieces of plastic.

"Although we have not been able to determine the cause of death, the facts we are seeing are really frightful," said Dwi Suprapti, coordinator of marine conservation at WWF Indonesia.

She added that it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the death of the whale due to the state of advanced decomposition of the animal.

Indonesia, an archipelago of 260 million people, is the second-largest plastic polluter in the world after China, according to a study published in the journal Science in January. It produces 3.2 million tonnes of poorly managed plastic waste a year, of which 1.29 million tonnes end up in the ocean, the study said.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesian Minister for Maritime Affairs Coordination, said that the discovery of the whale should raise public awareness of the need to reduce the use of plastic and urged the government to take stricter measures to protect l & # 39; ocean.

"I am so sad to hear that," said Pandjaitan, who recently campaigned for less use of plastic. "It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste, which is very dangerous for our lives."

He added that the government was striving to reduce the use of plastic, including urging stores not to provide plastic bags to customers and explaining the problem in schools across the country in order to address the problem. the government goal to reduce the use of plastic by 70% by 2025.

"This great ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy," he said.

According to a report published in 2015 by Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for the Environment and the Environment, more than 50% of the plastics released into our oceans came from five countries: Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

In June, plastic bags and other plastic waste were pulled from the stomach of a pilot whale killed in Thailand, officials said.