The grisly discovery of a dead whale that washed ashore in the Philippines with 40 kilograms of plastic in its gut has sparked outrage from environment activists and nature lovers.
Greenpeace, in a press release, says it is horrified by the whale's death and deplores the lack of international action to combat plastic pollution in our oceans.
Philippine NGO D' Bone Collector Museum performed a necropsy on the young whale and found that it died of dehydration and starvation.
The Cuvier's beaked whale washed up Saturday in Mabini, and marine biologist Darrell Blatchley posted on Facebook that he found 16 rice sacks, four banana plantation bags and many shopping bags inside the whale's stomach.
"This whale had the most plastic we have ever seen in a whale. It's disgusting. Action must be taken by the government against those who continue to treat the waterways and ocean as dumpsters," he said.
“Yet another whale has died, its belly full of single-use plastics, while in Canada we hold meetings, ask for more consultations, give subsidies to the plastics industry and ignore the reality of the impact our addiction to plastic has on our oceans and marine life," said Agnes Le Rouzic with Greenpeace Canada.
"The effects of plastic pollution on marine life are the most visible in Southeast Asia, but this is a global crisis. It is deplorable that Canada keeps dumping our plastic trash on countries in Southeast Asia that are already struggling under a momentous plastic crisis of their own."
The only way to stop plastic pollution is to ban the production of single-use plastics, she added.
Greenpeace notes the whale washed ashore just hours after a minority of countries, led by the United States, blocked proposals to tackle plastic pollution during the UN environment conference in Nairobi last week.