Dead Whale Discovered With 88 Pounds Of Plastic Bags In Its Stomach

Think about how much plastic there is in the world, and how much of it is seen as garbage even though it takes forever to biodegrade. Then consider the fact that a lot of garbage winds up in the ocean.

Whether it's a small fish choking on a small piece of garbage or a gigantic whale who inadvertantly swallows a lethal amount of plastic, these pollutants are killing sea creatures.

The discovery by a marine biologist shone an uncomfortable light on the way that pollution affects whales. Before going further, just a reminder — this stuff is pretty difficult to look at.

Unfortunately, it was too late to save it, as the whale was already dead. Now, not all creatures get to live to old age. But the details of this whale's demise are disturbing.

A marine biologist, Darrell Blatchley, identified the whale as a juvenile male Cuvier's beaked whale. Wanting to know more, Blatchley decided to investigate just what led to this poor whale's demise.

After cutting into the whale's stomach, Blatchley found plastic bags. A lot of plastic bags. Needless to say, it's not good to ingest plastic — and this whale paid the price.

Blatchley told CNN that the whale died of dehydration and starvation. In its final moments, the poor whale would have been severely emaciated and vomiting blood.

The sheer amount of plastic in its stomach — 88 pounds in all — blocked up the whale's system, keeping it from being able to properly process the nourishment it needed.

"I was not prepared for the amount of plastic," Blatchley told CNN. "Roughly 40 kilos of rice sacks, grocery bags, banana plantation bags and general plastic bags. Sixteen rice sacks in total."

Every living thing needs water, but whales swim in salt water. This means they need to get all of their hydration from the food they eat. With its stomach full of plastic, this whale couldn't eat anything.

Blatchley's group, the D'Bone Collector Museum, said the amount of plastic — reportedly the most they'd ever seen in the stomach of a whale — as disgusting. I'd say that's an understatement.

Plastic bags are not nutrients, so the body can't process them. Blatchley said that some of the bags he found in the whale's stomach had been there so long that they'd begun to calcify.

Single-use plastics are everywhere, and they're deadly. The bags in this whale's stomach aren't much different from the plastic shopping bags so many of us use every single day.

Humanity needs to get its act together. It's difficult to look at a whale whose life was cut short by our garbage. But if it changes anyone's habits, it's absolutely a good thing.