MikeLigalig.com

By Tina Santos, Alcuin Papa
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Plastic 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 stone’s 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.