Dead whale had 6 kg of plastic in stomach

JAKARTA - A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, including drinking cups, bottles and flip-flops, a park official has said, causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in the Southeast Asian country.

Rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found the rotting carcass of the 9.5-meter sperm whale late on Monday near the park in Southeast Sulawesi province after hearing that villagers were beginning to butcher the rotting carcass, park chief Heri Santoso said on Tuesday.

Santoso said researchers from wildlife conservation group WWF and the park's conservation academy found about 5.9 kilograms of plastic waste in the animal's stomach containing 115 plastic cups, four plastic bottles, 25 plastic bags, 2 flip-flops, a nylon sack and more than 1,000 other assorted pieces of plastic.