See, I knew that title would catch your attention…you’re a lot like me! I wanted to tell you about a beautiful gray whale that was found floating in the waters at the beach down the hill from our house. It was found a couple of weeks ago and it was big news, everyone came out to see the whale while reporters and news media (helicopters and all) descended on the beach. After an extended period of inactivity it was pronounced “dead at the scene”.
Gray Whale
Seeing this mammoth creature at the end of its life was terribly sad but the sadder story emerged last week when they did a whale necropsy to determine its cause of death. The report was inconclusive but in doing the exam they looked at the contents of the whale’s stomach. This poor whale had ingested: Duct tape, sweat pants, golf balls, socks, towels, fishing line, Capri Sun juice pouches, surgical gloves, and approximately 37 plastic bags. The researchers, who had done hundreds of these necropsies, had “never seen so much debris in the stomach of a gray whale” and while no one is pointing to this as the cause of the whale’s death, I have to assume it didn’t help things!
I know that everyone is concerned about our oceans right now because of the disastrous Louisiana oil spill but this event hit so close to our home, it was more than just another story on the news that seemed far away from me. Yesterday I purchased some reusable produce bags so that I can try to limit the bags I grab at the grocery store to put my fruits and veggies in. Let’s all please try to be conscious of what we are doing with our trash – these large, ocean mammals are canaries in the coal mine!
OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now….want to know the good news that my husband pointed out? They didn’t find any ReUsies in that whale’s stomach:)
