Toothbrush discovered in stomach of rare whale found on Kerry beach

The whale washed up on Brandon Bay on November 28 prompting a post-mortem, which revealed the plastic item inside the adult female.

Thu, 08 Dec, 2022 - 06:00

Rebecca Laffan

A whale which washed up on a Kerry beach in recent days was found to have a toothbrush inside its stomach, heightening concerns over the levels of plastic pollution off Ireland’s coast.

The rare true's beaked whale washed up on Brandon Bay on November 28, prompting a post-mortem which revealed the plastic item inside the adult female.

The examination was carried out by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) under their deep diving and rare species investigation programme.

It was found that the whale was “in a moderate nutritional state with evidence of recent feeding”, according to the IWDG.

We recovered otoliths from the forestomach — these fish ear stones are distinctive for each species of fish and will be used to identify the prey. Unfortunately, there was also a toothbrush in this stomach.

A partially-rusted fishing hook was also embedded in the left side of the urogenital slit, with multiple abscesses in the underlying muscle and mammary gland.

“This hook was most likely the cause of the abscesses which would have caused the animal a significant amount of pain,” stated the organisation.

“There was a haemorrhage within the left eye and in the blubber of the head. Both lungs and the liver were congested.”

Speaking on Radio Kerry, IWDG Shannon dolphin officer and post-mortem biologist, Mags Daly, said that the beaked whale often mistakes plastic in the sea for prey.

“They are diving down to deep waters where it’s dark, so they’re using their sonar or echo location to identify and find prey.

“So they can be mistaking the plastic bags for prey...and it’s going down into their stomach.”

Ms Daly said the issue of plastic pollution is impacting their conservation status.