Dead whale washes up on Indonesian beach with over 1,000 pieces of plastic in its stomach

A dead whale washed up on a beach in eastern Indonesia had more than 1,000 pieces of plastic waste in its stomach, including drinking cups and flip-flops, officials have said.

Rescuers at the Wakatobi National Park found the rotting carcass of the 9.5m sperm whale on Monday night near the park in Southeast Sulawesi province.

They had received a report from environmentalists that villagers had surrounded the whale and were beginning to butcher the rotting carcass, park chief Heri Santoso said.

Researchers from wildlife conservation group WWF and the park’s conservation academy found about 5.9kg of plastic waste in the animal’s stomach.

Among the debris was 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, two flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other pieces of plastic, Mr Santoso said.

“Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful,” said Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF Indonesia.

She said it was not possible to determine if the plastic had caused the whale’s death because of the animal’s advanced state of decay.

Indonesia is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter behind China, according to a study in the journal Science published in January.

The archipelago of 260 million people produces 3.2 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste a year, of which 1.29 million tons ends up in the ocean, the study said.

Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs, said the whale’s discovery should raise public awareness about the need to reduce plastic use, and had spurred the government to take tougher measures to protect the ocean.

“I’m so sad to hear this,” said Mr Pandjaitan, who has for less use of plastic.

“It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives.”

He said the government was making efforts to reduce the use of plastic, including urging shops not to provide plastic bags for customers and teaching about the problem in schools to meet a government target of reducing plastic use by 70 per cent by 2025.

“This big ambition can be achieved if people learn to understand that plastic waste is a common enemy,” he added.