Plastic Bags Kill Whale

Photo of plastic pollution affecting wildlife by Jedimentat44 on Flickr

The article I read was titled "Dead whale found with 40 kilograms of plastic bags in its stomach", written by Matthew Robinson and published on CNN’s website. The article discussed the findings of a whale that died from eating too many plastic bags that are floating in our oceans. We have talked a lot in class about the implications of plastic and how they usually end up in the ocean. We have also learned that plastic is not able to go away, but rather breaks down into tiny pieces. The whale talked about in the article was found with over 88 pounds of plastic in it’s stomach. It was confirmed that this is what killed the whale because it was unable to digest the plastic and therefore could not eat or drink anything else, technically dying from starvation and dehydration. I think this article highlights the huge issue our planet has with plastics and the detrimental impact it is having on our wildlife. The article even states that every year hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, seals and turtles are killed by ocean plastic pollution. It is very sad to see topics like this in the news and it is clear something needs to be done about this planet’s plastic crisis.