I came across this article in the Guardian about sperm whales stranded on the German coast, a few weeks after a similar stranding near Skegness on the east coast of the UK.
These strandings show us the results of our plastic-oriented society. Animals inadvertently consume plastic, and they suffer because of it.
If we could see the effect of what we're doing, we'd stop doing it, wouldn't we?
These strandings show us the results of our plastic-oriented society. Animals inadvertently consume plastic, and they suffer because of it.
If we could see the effect of what we're doing, we'd stop doing it, wouldn't we?
Stranded sperm whales. Photograph: Jeroen Hoekendijk, theguardian.com
"Thirteen sperm whales stranded on the German coast had ingested huge amounts of plastic. They are symbolic of our shocking disregard for marine life says Philip Hoare in the Guardian
In January, 29 sperm whales stranded on shores around the North Sea. The results of the necropsies (the animal equivalent of autopsies) of 13 of those whales, which beached in Germany, near the town of Tönning in Schleswig-Holstein, have just been released.
The animals’ stomachs were filled with plastic debris. A 13-metre-long fishing net, a 70cm piece of plastic from a car and other pieces of plastic litter had been inadvertently ingested by the animals, who may have thought they were food, such as squid, their main diet, which they consume by sucking their prey into their mouths...
The animals’ stomachs were filled with plastic debris. A 13-metre-long fishing net, a 70cm piece of plastic from a car and other pieces of plastic litter had been inadvertently ingested by the animals, who may have thought they were food, such as squid, their main diet, which they consume by sucking their prey into their mouths...
Our use and abuse of animals seems in inverse proportion to the almost ritual reverence in which we purport to hold them
Read more at theguardian.com
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