Yesterday (7th August, Sunday), pictures of a dead dolphin found along the beach off Pulau Jerejak in Penang were heavily circulated on the interwebs.
The dolphin is believed to have choked on rubbish, as its carcass was filled with trash.
First shared by Facebook page Penang Kini, the pictures caused an uproar among netizens.
“Society needs to change. Such sadists who like to litter everywhere,” one person commented while another said, “So sad. Maybe this dolphin died because it ate plastic floating on the surface thinking that it was food.”
“Why are people so mean. I can’t bear to look at this,” one more Facebook user added.
Penang Kini’s post has since been shared almost 700 times (as at time of writing), garnering hundreds of Facebook reactions, including over 500 sad ones.
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Meanwhile, The Star quoted marine biologist Associate Professor Dr Aileen Tan of Universiti Sains Malaysia as saying that it was common for turtles to choke on plastic rubbish thinking that they were jellyfish. Dolphins also make the same mistake.
“Now, the beaches are more severely polluted compared to the beaches 4 years ago. The stretch along Pantai Acheh is probably the dirtiest due to the presence of old fishing nets, plastic items and other types of rubbish,” she said yesterday, adding that the dolphin should be dissected to confirm the cause of death.
This is not the first time that dolphins have been spotted in Penang. In 2011, one netizen uploaded a YouTube video of dolphins swimming near Queensbay and a year later, a fisherman captured footage of a few dolphins frolicking in the sea near Penang Bridge.
Sources: Penang Kini, The Star.
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