Image of a whale which died due to the consumption of plastic waste? Read the truth…

The accumulation of plastic objects and particles in the Earth's environment, which had adverse effects on many species, has increased alarmingly over the past few decades. Statistics from 2023 indicate that around 10 Mt of plastic is dumped into our oceans annually.

Living organisms, particularly marine animals, can be harmed either by mechanical effects, such as entanglement in plastic objects, problems related to the ingestion of plastic waste, or exposure to chemicals within plastics that interfere with their physiology.

Social Media Posts:

Viral Facebook posts were shared alongside an image similar to a dead whale with a short synopsis, which translated to English as “Due to hunger, this creature must have consumed plastic in the ocean bed. To whom can he relate his pain….Carcass of this whale, who had consumed 64 pounds of plastic waste, was washed to the shore of Philippines. We humans are responsible for this tragedy”

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At first glance, the image seems unrealistic, and the responses to this post claimed that this is not a carcass of a whale but a plastic model. Hence we decided to do a fact-check.

Fact check

We carried out a Google reverse image search of this image and noticed that this image has been circulating over the internet associated with the fight against ocean plastics. As per the Forbes article titled “Yet another Dead Whale Is Grave Reminder of Our Massive Plastic Problem”, the image of a plastic whale was a model created by Greenpeace Philippines to showcase the dangers of plastic pollution in the oceans.

We checked the Facebook page of Greenpeace Philippines and noticed that in May 2017, they had created a model with plastic waste at the Sea Side Beach Resort in Naic, Cavite, to “underscore the massive problem of plastic pollution in the ocean and calls on the ASEAN to address this looming problem on its shores.”

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Campaigns of the World Youtube Channel had posted the below video story on how Greenpeace Philippines had created a “Dead Whale”, making a strong statement about plastic pollution around the Philippines.

So it's clear that the viral image of a dead whale was not a real whale but a plastic model created to highlight the dangers of plastic pollution in the oceans.

Furthermore, we noticed that there were reports of several whale deaths due to plastic digestion. A dead Sperm Whale washed onto the shore of Spain in 2018, and the autopsy reports had revealed that the cause of the death of the whale was due to the swallowing of plastics and debris. Here is a tweet from Biologist Daniel Schneider regarding that incident in 2018.

Also Read : Myths related to Marine Plastic Pollution!

Conclusion

Our fact check revealed that the viral image is not of a real dead Whale washed ashore in the Philippines but a model made out of plastic waste by Greenpeace Philippines to create awareness about plastic pollution, which continues to be a major issue in oceans around the world.