'If you have 80 plastic bags in your stomach, you die', Whale found dead in Thailand after swallowing 80 plastic bags

A whale has died in southern Thailand after swallowing more than 80 plastic bags, an official said. The sad death of the whale ended an attempted rescue that failed to nurse the mammal back to good health.

Thailand is one of the world’s largest consumers of plastic bags for which hundreds of marine creatures living near the country’s popular beaches die every year.

The whale, during the rescue attempt, vomited five bags before passing away, the department said.

The whale vomited up five bags during the rescue attempt before it died, the department said.

"If you have 80 plastic bags in your stomach, you die," he said.

"It's a huge problem," he said. "We use a lot of plastic." The pilot whale's plight generated sympathy and anger among Thai netizens.

"I feel sorry for the animal that didn't do anything wrong but has to bear the brunt of human actions," one Twitter user wrote in Thai.

The small male pilot whale became the latest victim of plastic pollution after it was found barely alive in a canal near the border, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources said on their Facebook page on Saturday.

A team of vets tried ‘to help stabilise its illness but finally the whale died’ on Friday afternoon, the post said.     

An autopsy report revealed 80 plastic bags weighing up to eight kilogram (18 pounds) in the whale’s stomach, the department added.