The carcass of a 31-foot sperm whale washed ashore in the Southeast Sulawesi province in eastern Indonesia late Monday night. The contents of its stomach were disgusting, but not in the way you may be thinking.
The whale's body was rescued by people from Wakatobi National Park.
Members of the park's conservation academy, along with researchers from World Wildlife Fund (WWF), discovered the whale had approximately 13 pounds of plastic waste in its stomach.
The plastic contents included 115 plastic cups, 4 plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, a nylon sack, and of 1,000 other pieces of assorted plastic.
Dwi Suprapti, a marine species conservation coordinator at WWF, said:
"Although we have not been able to deduce the cause of death, the facts that we see are truly awful."
It is unclear whether or not the plastic consumption was the cause of death or a disturbing complication.
Indonesia's maritime affairs minister, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, hopes the whale will highlight the need to reduce plastic use.
"I'm so sad to hear this. It is possible that many other marine animals are also contaminated with plastic waste and this is very dangerous for our lives."
A picture editor at Red Bulletin Magazine posted pictures of the whale and its stomach contents.
A stranded whale was found in Indonesia with more than 1,000 plastic pieces in its stomach #endplasticpollution… https://t.co/Opw8k21kJA— Tahira Mirza (@Tahira Mirza)1542726226.0
@tahiramirza1
@tahiramirza1
@tahiramirza1
@tahiramirza1
This video shows more of the devastating discovery.
This is the moment officials found 13 pounds of plastic waste in a dead sperm whale's stomach. What they found is… https://t.co/mBSV40Wh1K— TicToc by Bloomberg (@TicToc by Bloomberg)1542788887.0
People are finding the whale's stomach contents to be nauseating, as well as a call to action.
This makes me sick. https://t.co/LYPlKBA7PK— Denise Shull, MA (@Denise Shull, MA)1542717464.0
This is disgusting. Mass production of consumer plastics has only been around for about 60 years... will the oceans… https://t.co/X4QCq1cpmA— ScienceMan (@ScienceMan)1542723906.0
@GreenpeaceUK @The_PlugSeeker Would like to say this makes us angry, but it actually makes us feel ashamed to be pa… https://t.co/ACh0V9IYS0— Plug In Adventures (@Plug In Adventures)1542740517.0
@tictoc This is just sad. Killed by humans.— Yvonne (@Yvonne)1542809502.0
@tahiramirza1 Poor whale. We're all making too much pollution. Recycle, reuse, and reduce! Repeat.— Supernova3030 (@Supernova3030)1542750960.0
@tahiramirza1 😨 we’re nature’s worst epidemic.— Chalupa Batman (@Chalupa Batman)1542764625.0
@globalnews @GlobalNational Disturbing how humanity does not care about anything. This is a dying world.— Corbyn (@Corbyn)1542719509.0
@CBCNews No one will ever convince me that the deadliest animal on the planet isn't the human being. Not only for t… https://t.co/9UkleXcPCP— . (@.)1542740933.0
@CBCNews Humans are shi*ty. We destroy everything we come in contact with.— Pacific Steve (@Pacific Steve)1542749083.0
@globalnews @GlobalBC We can do so much better than this.— Karen Haugland (@Karen Haugland)1542741689.0
To see your effect on the planet, check out Earth Day's Plastic Pollution Calculator.
H/T: abc News, Evening Standard, Twitter
In fact, some mistakes are so astronomical that they're remembered for decades afterwards, leaving the one who made the mistake a legacy of being a dumba**. Here are a few of them!!!
U/ronjans24 asked: What was the biggest mistake in human history?
Some may argue that the existence of the Universe was a mistake. I disagree. It was clearly Zayn leaving One Direction. But these next few were pretty bad too.
If you do the math, this is also the reason why Hentai exists.
I'll say the wrong turn Franz Ferdinand's driver made that went right in front of Gavrilo Princip.
EDIT: yes I'm aware war may still have broken out even if Franz Ferdinand wasn't assassinated
Imagine you're Gavrilo Princip. The assassination plot you and your friends had been cooking up for about the last year or so has been a complete and total disaster, just a monumental f*ck-up of the highest degree. You're staked out at this deli thinking maybe, just maybe the car will pass by, and by some stroke of sheer luck, it does.
If you're Princip, this is nothing short of serendipity.
Petition to return to the ocean.
Ocean Surf GIFGiphy"Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake in coming down from the trees in the first place. And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans."
"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move." - Douglas Adams
This was, in fact, a monumental mistake.
Sears not beating Amazon to the punch.
Blockbuster not buying Netflix.
You thought THOSE were bad? Well gear up for their next few, because they are 100% accurate. Except the one about Cats, that movie slaps.
I don’t know sports, but sure.
Seahawks not running it.
I used to wear a Seahawks jersey whenever I took a test because I knew I would pass when I shouldn't.
CATS is great, y'all are just boring.
GiphyThe Emoji Movie.
That live action movie about Cats is also up there.
Very fair point.
Social Media.
Humans are not wired to have that many social interactions and maintain that many relationships. Plus the echochambers it allows people to create for themselves, no matter how conspiratorial or vile their beliefs, means that stupid/evil people are no longer shunned into changing their mind.
Not sure it was worth being able to see what a celebrity had for lunch or what new "dance" your younger cousin and her tween friends are doing.
But in all seriousness, some horrible things may now have happened if the right thing was halted at the right time.
Washington called it.
George Washington Disney GIF by Hamilton: An American MusicalGiphyVoting for people based on what side of the political spectrum they're on. George Washington himself advised against political parties because he thought they would cause too much division in this country. Unfortunately for everyone, he was right.
Big oops on that one.
Barack Obama mocking Donald Trump at the Correspondents Dinner might have led directly to his 2016 run....
"Now, I know that he's taken some flak lately, but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than The Donald," Obama said. "And that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter — like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?"
Then he turned serious: "But all kidding aside, obviously, we all know about your credentials and breadth of experience. For example — no, seriously, just recently, in an episode of 'Celebrity Apprentice' — at the steakhouse, the men's cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha Steaks. And there was a lot of blame to go around. But you, Mr. Trump, recognized that the real problem was a lack of leadership. And so ultimately, you didn't blame Lil Jon or Meatloaf. You fired Gary Busey. And these are the kind of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well handled, sir. Well handled."
This is the best Star Wars and no one can change my mind.
I'll take 'Star Wars Christmas Special' for $100.
That atrocious pile of manure gave us Boba Fett, so without the Christmas Special there won't be The Mandalorian.
Wow, in this article, I openly admitted my love for Cats AND The Star Wars Holiday Special. So maybe my existence was the biggest mistake of all.
ANYWAY, I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you all feel a little bit better about yourself. Because when push comes to shove, at least you didn't accidentally start World War I