Whale death off Puerto Rico blamed on plastic bags

[Judi Lynn]

May 6, 3:27 PM EDT
Whale death off Puerto Rico blamed on plastic bags

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A rare whale has washed up dead in Puerto Rico, and a biologist is blaming plastic bags for its demise.

Nilda Jimenez says that she conducted a necropsy of the Gervais beaked whale and found more than 10 pounds (4.5 kilos) of twisted plastic inside its stomach. The marine mammal specialist said Friday she has no doubt the plastic caused the death by preventing the whale from getting adequate nutrition.

The whale washed up on the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico near the town of Maunabo on Wednesday. But beaked whales are not typically seen around the U.S. island territory, so Jimenez suspects it died recently out in the ocean. The 15-foot (4.6-meter) female juvenile was emaciated and apparently hadn't eaten in many days.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CB_PUERTO_RICO_WHALE_KILLED?SITE=INSBT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[sasha031]

1. when ever I read something like this, I feel deep saddness

what man has done to this planet...

[robinlynne]

2. Now, will everyone please get it? If we could at least STOP what we are doing to the

planet, it still can fix itself hopefully. BUT MANKIND NEEDS TO STOP killing the earth!

[Booster]

3. I need to take some of the blame for this. Way too often I forget

to take my reuseable bags to the store. I promise, in memory of this whale, that I will take them with me on every trip to the store no matter how much I intend to buy. RIP, little whale - I am sorry.

[One_Life_To_Give]

4. Literbugs

It's not the responsible people that clean up after themselves. Trash from your local Landfill/Incinerator/Garbage to Energy plant doesn't cause the problem. It's simply people who don't take care of properly disposing of their own refuse.

[Hun Joro]

5. That isn't the whole picture. Trash escapes.

In fact, today was garbage day in my neighborhood and I came home to a yard full of scraps of plastic that flew from the dumpster from the business on the next block when the garbage truck emptied it. People do need to pick up after themselves and be more careful, but more importantly we need to learn to minimize the waste we create.

[stuntcat]

6. you'll remember!

It took me a few years but lately I never forget them.