Pregnant Dead Whale Found With Nearly 50 Pounds Of Plastic In Her Stomach

Whale Dies After Consuming Plastic — A dead whale was found in the Philippines after consuming over 80 pounds of plastic pollution. Here, a crowd gathers to watch at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa Del Rey, California, on July 1, 2016 as a dead humpback whale washes ashore. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

A pregnant sperm whale was found dead off the coast of the Italian island of Sardina last week with nearly 50 pounds of plastic in her stomach.

"She was pregnant and had almost certainly aborted before (she) beached," Luca Bittau, president of the nonprofit SeaMe, told CNN.

The fetus was in an advanced state of composition, according to Bittau.

"It was dramatic to find the fetus . . . we felt bad already at that point" marine biologist Mattia Leone told the Telegraph. "But then when we opened the stomach and saw all the plastic, we realized, yet again, we were bearing witness to this very worrisome, sad situation."

The 26-foot long sperm whale was found by a resort worker. The fetus likely died of malnourishment due to the plastic.

The whale's death comes weeks after a whale in the Philippines was found dead after consuming 88 pounds of plastic. It was found just moments after environment officials arrived, according to a Facebook post by American marine biologist Darrell Blatchley, who is the owner of D' Bone Collector Museum, a non-governmental organization in the Philippines that collects and preserves dead animals.

He said that it was the most plastic he had ever seen a whale consume.

"Finding the whale like this was tragic. It's so sad to see the effect humans are having on sea life," Blatchley said.

OneGreenPlanet reports that each year "at least 8.8 million tons of plastics leak into the ocean— the equivalent of dumping the contents of one garbage trucks into the ocean every minute."