MANILA, PhilippinesPlastic products and nails were found in the stomach of a dead female whale shark that fishermen found early Wednesday morning near the Manila Bay breakwater just a stones throw from the Manila Yacht Club.
These were the initial findings of a necropsy performed Wednesday afternoon on the whale shark (popularly known in the country as butanding), said Theresa Mundita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.
Lim said her office would conduct laboratory tests and analysis on the blood and tissue of the fish to see if it was poisoned. The results would be available in two weeks.
The whale shark (Rhincodon typus), estimated to be at least 2 years old, was 17 ½-feet (5.2 meters) long and weighed more than a ton.
Eyes gouged out
Greg Yan, information officer of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF-Philippines), said his group had named the whale shark Bulag (blind) after discovering strange injuries to both its eyes.
The eyes were virtually gouged out, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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How can it NOT die, the bay beside our city has near toxic waters. People litter, throw their garbage, homeless people build homes near it. God help this country...
