Endangered pygmy sperm whale found dead in Davao Gulf —NGO

A pygmy sperm whale was found dead last Thursday in Davao Gulf and biologists at a museum in Davao City suspected that plastic ingestion caused the eventual death of the endangered whale species.

Locals who found the dead whale floating in Davao Gulf in Davao del Sur brought the animal to the D' Bone Collector Museum sa Davao City.

Necropsy results showed that the whale's stomach was stuffed with plastic trash and biologists from a non-governmental organization (NGO) at the museum said that plastic ingestion sickened the whale until  it died.

^{Photo courtesy: Darrel Blatchley}

Darrel Blatchley of the  D' Bone Collector Museum said that the incident is not isolated as cases of deaths of whales due to plastic ingestion had been reported in the Davao Gulf area.

Photo courtesy: Darrel Blatchley

Meanwhile, residents of Barangay Pansol in Lopez, Quezon, found a wounded dolphin floating near the shore last Friday.

Personnel from Lopez Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office tried but failed to save the dolphin from dying. 

^{Photo courtesy: BFP Lopez}

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources personnel in Lopez suspected that the dolphin's fatal wounds may have been due to shark attack. —Peewee Bacuño/LBG, GMA News