Guess we are already heading towards our doom – a self-created one that is. Actually, we are speeding towards it with jet thrusters attached to our shins. Why such pessimism, you ask. Well, a young sperm whale was discovered dead on the shore of Sicily this month – on a beach at Cefalu. What makes this story all the more gruesome and depressing is the way it was found. The whale was filled with plastics in its stomach.
How many whales need to die before we realize what we are doing?
Greenpeace Italia uploaded pictures of the approximately 7-year-old carcass on their Facebook page. Its stomach was completely filled with plastics and other plastic-based objects.
Giorgia Monti, working for the organization, declared that an autopsy would be done of the body to determine if plastics were the sole cause of its death. Even if it wasn’t, having a plastic filled stomach is not something that one can just dismiss as inconsequential. In the last few months, about 5 sperm whales have beached in the shores of Italy.
On Sunday, a necropsy was conducted on the whale by experts. One of them, Carmelo Isgro, working at the natural history museum of the University of Messina uploaded pictures and video of the grim carcass on social media.
A different video shows the scientists cutting open the stomach of the whale to simply find it filled with plastic. There was also some squid that it ate. In the video, the plastic is being put in the bin, and the humongous amount astounded even the experts.
Isgro mentions to CNN that a lot of plastic was found inside. The whale being so young didn’t even have teeth. The plastic developed a block which didn’t allow food to pass through.
In general, whales should ideally live for about 70 to 80 years.