Sperm whale ‘died after consuming 29kg of plastic waste’

The government of the Spanish region of Murcia has launched an anti-pollution compaign after a dead sperm whale which washed up on one of its beaches was found to have ingested almost 30kg of rubbish.

Sperm whales subsist on a diet dominated by squid and other marine creatures. However, the 32ft-long juvenile found on Cabo de Palos in February had consumed “plastic bags, pieces of nets and ropes, raffia sacking and even a plastic drum”, The Local reports.

Experts from the nearby El Valle Wildlife Recovery Centre extracted 29kg (about four and a half stone) of manmade rubbish from its stomach.

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“The whale would have been unable to digest or excrete the rubbish,” says the ABC. “It likely died of peritonitis, an inflammation of the tissue that lines the abdomen, which is usually caused by an infection or a hole in the intestines.”

The images of the items found in the autopsy have now been shared as local authorities launch a campaign to clear up Spain’s coastline.

Murcia’s ministry of tourism, culture and environment has pledged to begin a massive clean-up project along the coast, as well as a programme of talks and presentations to raise public awareness of the problem.

Consuelo Rosauro, the local government’s environment chief, said the death of the sperm whale was emblematic of a far broader problem of pollution in the world’s oceans.

"The presence of plastics in seas and oceans is one of the greatest threats to the conservation of wildlife throughout the world," he said.

Greenpeace UK estimates that 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean every year.