Mission failed for some rescuers in southern Thailand: they were trying to save a whale who literally ate 80 plastic bags. According to the country’s department of marine and coastal resources the whale was a male and it was found in a canal near the border with Malaysia, already very ill.
The department said that a veterinary team tried «to help stabilize its illness but finally the whale died» on Friday afternoon. Then, an autopsy was made on the whale and it revealed 8kg of plastic bags in the whale’s stomach.
People was really helpful to rescuers: they used buoys to keep the whale afloat and an umbrella to protect it from the sun. During the rescue the whale managed to vomit five bags, but it wasn’t enough. The real problem, according to Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine biologist from Kasetsart University, was that the bags had made it impossible for the whale to eat any nutritional food. He said that «If you have 80 plastic bags in your stomach, you die».
Thamrongnawasawat explained how at least 300 marine animals die each year in Thailand’s water, such as pilot whales, sea turtles and dolphins. Indeed, the country is one of the world’s largest users of plastic bags, and Thon knows that: «It’s a huge pronlem – he claimed – we use a lot of plastic».
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