We’ll be told this is why we must kill people who use plastic cups for their coffee etc:
Scientists said the whale probably died because it ate large volumes of marine debris, highlighting the threat to wildlife from the millions of tons of plastic that ends up in oceans every year.
The body of the 56-foot-long, 120,000-pound animal was first noticed on a reef off Kauai on Friday. High tide brought it ashore on Saturday.
No, not really:
The whale’s stomach contained six hagfish traps, seven types of fishing net, two types of plastic bags, a light protector, fishing line and a float from a net. Researchers also found squid beaks, fish skeletons and the remains of other prey in the whale’s stomach.
There is a lot of plastic in the ocean. The source of most of it – most of it in pieces large enough to trouble a sperm whale – is from discarded fishing gear. Nowt at all to do with what anyone is doing on land.
Ah, but if we recycled our plastic it could be made into hagfish traps for whales to swallow. Then they wouldn’t survive to swallow drinking straws.
So. It sounds as though it’s high time the squids and fish recycled their beaks and skeletons.
Isn’t that ‘probably’ doing rather a lot of work..?
This whole episode is not a good advertisement for whales’ digestive systems.
Have they tried eating freighters full of boxes of Bran Flakes ?
Dumb animals eat all sorts of shit. Think back to Jaws when they opened up that Tiger Shark – a tin can and a Louisiana number plate.
If you go swanning round the oceans with your mouth open you deserve all you get.
As you say, most of the plastic in the oceans come from fishing and 95% of the rest is chucked into the ocean by Asians / Africans, but we have to pay by going back in time to the days when things were shit….. In the pub the other day with the family I mentioned Chestertons Fence (thanks Tim) when talking about plastic straws. A lady on the next table overheard and showed us the paper straw they had given her daughter for her softie – completely bloody useless after a few draws.
This is why I now carry metal straws in my truck.
The paper ones from bars/Maccys/etc are just rubbish.
I always take a couple of the paper ones though, just to put in the bin. I’ve paid for them.
How soon before metal straws are banned after a spate of stabbing incidents?
jgh, a quick google shows they’re already direly dangerous because of the difficulty of cleaning them.
They’ll soon be banned in the interests of public health!!!
jgh / Bogan, dangerous for other reasons too – my son didn’t believe me when I mentioned this last week: https://metro.co.uk/2019/07/08/retired-jockey-60-died-falling-onto-metal-straw-impaled-eye-10132343/