For weeks, a 14.1m (46ft) adult male sperm whale was seen struggling off the coast of Scotland, entangled in thick ropes.
Despite its strength, it swam in distress, its movements restricted by loops cutting deep into its flesh.
The specialist Large Whale Disentanglement Team from
@bdmlr_uk spent two days attempting to clear the entanglement from the whale. This was hampered at times by bad weather and the whale taking long dives and moving position. Despite this the team managed to remove a lot of the entanglement but sadly not all of it.
Days later, the whale stranded itself on the west coast of Raasay—a final act of exhaustion.
Local residents rushed to help, cutting away an additional 132m (433ft) of rope, but it was too late.
The whale died soon after, barely struggling—a sign that its body had reached total depletion.
The
@smass.scotland team conducted a necropsy, uncovering weeks of suffering beneath the surface.
The ropes had wrapped tightly around its jaw and head, slicing 4–5 cm into the tissue, causing deep, necrotic wounds.
It had been unable to eat for 3–4 weeks, its body showing extreme malnutrition and dehydration.
Inside its stomach, scientists Found 15kg of marine debris—a knotted mass of rope, plastic, and mussel farm gear.
Not a single trace of food. No squid, no fish—just plastic and waste.
This whale likely starved to death, slowly, due to the gear that strangled it.
Every year, over 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear are lost or abandoned at sea, trapping and killing marine life.
We deeply admire the rescue teams at BDMLR who work tirelessly to save these animals.
Bravo to
@jamesappletonphotography whose powerful photos capture the brutal reality of entanglement and marine debris.
Our Ghost Net and Coastal Debris campaigns aim to remove this deadly waste before it can claim more victims.
But we all need to act. The ocean is drowning in plastic and abandoned fishing gear.
Join us. Take action before more marine lives are lost. 🌊
