Horrifying footage shows how a whale died after swallowing 80 plastic bags - despite vets spending a week trying to save the animal. <br /><br />The male pilot whale was found last Monday struggling to swim in waters off the coast of Songkhla province, southern Thailand, near the Malaysian border.<br /><br />Vets rescued the mammal and spent the next five days trying to nurse it back to health but he finally died on Friday after vomiting up plastic bags all week.<br /><br />An autopsy revealed the shocking amount of plastic pollution lodged in the whale's stomach that was preventing it from eating - slowly starving the 12ft long animal to death.<br /><br />Vets removed more than 80 plastic carrier bags as well as crisp packets and sweet wrappers from the whale's stomach - and are now using the whale as an example of the damaging effect of plastic pollution while calling on authorities to find alternatives.<br /><br />Watchara Sakornwimon, a vet at the Marine and Coastal Resources Research and Development Centre, said she has ''never felt so bad''.<br /><br />She said: ''Ever since I was a doctor I have never felt so bad. Every rescue is a challenge when we find a sick whale.<br /><br />''But this time it is the most heartbreaking case I have seen. We took out more than 8kg of plastic junk from the whale's stomach that were causing it to get sick.<br /><br />''The whale would have lived if he hadn't eaten garbage. Human pollution was the thing that killed the whale.''<br /><br />Pilot whales mainly feed on squid, but are known to eat octopus and small fish when squid are not available.<br /><br />+HIGH-RES STILLS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST+
