Plastic bag-swallowing Sperm Whales - Victims of our remorseless progress
Plastic Bag-Swallowing Sperm Whales – Victims of Our Remorseless Progress Philip Hoare @philipwhale Wed 23 May 2018 15.34 BST The news that Mediterranean whales have died after ingesting our plastic waste comes as no surprise – but seems to be an omen for fallout from our disruption of the natural world . A sperm whale plays with plastic waste in the Atlantic. Photograph: Ullstein Bild/ullstein bild via Getty Image Plastic bags have been blamed for the deaths of sperm whales in the Mediterranean . The Athens-based Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute found that more than a third of the sperm whales found dead in Greek waters had stomachs blocked by plastic waste. But this comes as no surprise to whale watchers. In a plangent 2011 report by same researchers on a mass sperm-whale stranding, a combination of factors – noise from naval exerc...