Plastic debris in stomach of gray whale

Cascadia Team examining stranded gray whale in West Seattle. Photo: Cascadia Research

On April 18th, on the other side of the world, an adult male gray whale was found dead on the shores of West Seattle in the United States.  Although the cause of death is not currently known, researchers from Cascadia Research found some unusal stomach contents.  In the stomach of the gray whale there was 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball.  These made up 1-2% of the stomach contents, but indicates that the whale had been feeding adjacent to industrial outflows.  This emphasises the importance of keeping our oceans clean, picking up any discarded debris you find, whether it be yours or someone elses, it can help save a life of one of our marine animal comrads. – Report sourced from Orca Network News & Cascadia Research, USA