Yahoo News
Date: October, 26, 2015
By: AFP
Taiwanese marine biologists have discovered a mass of plastic bags and fishing net in
AFP/National Cheng-Kung University/AFP – Marine biologists conduct an autopsy on a dead sperm whale in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan on October 24, 2015
the stomach of a dead whale, underlying the dangers posed by floating ocean trash.
The 15-metre (49-foot) mature sperm whale was spotted stranded off the southern town of Tongshi on October 15.
Coastguards and scientists returned it to the ocean but three days later it was found dead around 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.
Marine biologists from a local university who conducted an autopsy over the weekend found a mass of plastic bags and fishing net sizeable enough to fill an excavator bucket.
Professor Wang Chien-ping, head of the whale research centre at National Cheng-Kung University, said the garbage was probably a major factor in the death.
Wang told AFP the whale could have suffered heart or lung disease and multiple infections. [FULL STORY]
