Beached whales killed by ingesting plastic

[The Straight Story]

Beached whales killed by ingesting plastic


FOGGIA, Italy, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Seven sperm whales that beached at Foggia, Italy, died from ingesting plastic in the ocean, a scientist at Tusica University said Friday.

"They must have mistaken the objects for squid, one of their favorite foods," said Giuseppe Nascetti, who teaches marine ecology at Tuscia University.

The plastic "strangled" the whales' stomachs, which also contained pieces of rope, tin cans and other containers, Nascetti told the Italian news agency ANSA in a story published Friday.

The whales, which weighed more than 13 tons each and were 30 to 45 feet long, came ashore a week ago in a rare beaching. All of them were dead by Sunday night.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/12/18/Beached-whales-killed-by-ingesting-plastic/UPI-47351261152108/

[mod mom]

1. :(

[Blue Owl]

2. I hope someday

we can wean ourselves off the disposable plastic so these stories are never repeated again.

How sad our mindless convenience brings about this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. We also need to clean up the plastic continent in the Pacific. That will be

a monumental task, but we owe it to ourselves and our marine friends.

[Blue Owl]

4. Yes we do!

Disposable plastic -- another scourge of the oil industry...

[G_j]

5. that is terrible. We must stop

producing so much unnecessary garbage!

[spanone]

6. ah, but we don't influence the earth, no, not a single bit...

:sarcasm:

[Kingofalldems]

7. It's a hoax!! Read the emails!

Plastic occurs naturally.