In Norway, zoologist finds 30 plastic bags in stranded whale

The whale's intestine "had no food, only some remnants of a squid's head" i

By The Associated Press

Published February 4, 2017 1:03AM (EST)

FILE-This Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 file photo shows a large pile of washed-up trash, including old plastic bags, sits alongside the Los Angeles River in Long Beach, Calif. On Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014 Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on imposing the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Josh Morgan,File) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Josh Morgan,File)
FILE-This Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014 file photo shows a large pile of washed-up trash, including old plastic bags, sits alongside the Los Angeles River in Long Beach, Calif. On Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014 Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on imposing the nation's first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Josh Morgan,File) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Josh Morgan,File)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian zoologists have found about 30 plastic bags and other plastic waste in the stomach of a beaked whale that had beached on a southwestern Norway coast.

Terje Lislevand of the Bergen University says the visibly sick, 2-ton goose-beaked whale was euthanized. Its intestine "had no food, only some remnants of a squid's head in addition to a thin fat layer."

Lislevand says the non-biodegradable waste was "probably the reason" why the whale repeatedly beached Saturday in shallow waters off Sotra, an island west of Bergen, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Oslo.

He said Friday the U.N. estimates 8 million tons of plastic trash are dumped into oceans each year.

Information on the whale's age or gender was not immediately available.


By The Associated Press

Related Topics ------------------------------------------

From The Wires Norway Plastic Bags Pollution Whales