Trash bag leads to death for whale, nursing calf
By Bo Petersen
Wayne McFee/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Biologists and a veterinarian bring a stranded pygmy sperm whale onto the shore at Sullivan's Island late Monday.
Pygmy Sperm Whales
-- Look somewhat like big sharks and often are mistaken for them.
--Grow no bigger than 14 feet and 900 pounds.
-- Eat mostly octopus and squid; also eat crab, fish and shrimp.
-- Found in tropical, subtropical and temperate waters, not known to migrate.
-- Rarely seen at sea; strandings are common along the Southeast coast.
-- Not considered endangered but numbers worldwide are not known.
For more info
For information about NOAA's Marine Debris response program, go to marinedebris.noaa.gov
SULLIVAN'S ISLAND — A mother and nursing calf pygmy sperm whale were found rolling in the late-night breakers near Fort Moultrie earlier this week. Litter killed them.
A necropsy found a large black plastic garbage bag in the mother's stomach, said Wayne McFee, of the National Ocean Service's marine mammal stranding program. She couldn't eat and was in severe pain. The calf couldn't survive without her and wouldn't leave her. When found, they were still alive but too sick to survive.
Marine animals can mistake plastic in the water for food. Pygmy sperm whales eat squid.
Beachgoers who found the pair struggled for two hours late Monday pushing the 900-pound female and the calf farther into the water twice; both times they simply floated back in.
"The animals were totally exhausted and the calf was cut up by something. The female just wasn't going to be able to make it. The baby was about gone," said veterinarian Johnny Ohlandt, who worked with McFee on the stranding. The whales were euthanized with an injection.
"It's just another case of dumping trash overboard off the boat," McFee said. "Now you've got two females out of the population, which is not good."
Not a lot is known about pygmy sperm whales. They're not considered endangered, but they're rarely seen at sea. Strandings of the small whales are not uncommon, with as many as four or five per year in South Carolina. A pygmy sperm whale stranded on Sullivan's in 2007. They die when brought into aquariums to be rehabilitated. It's dangerous to try pushing them back out to sea.
"These animals are on the beach for a reason. They're typically sick or injured. Pushing them out isn't going to do any good. It's just going to prolong their suffering and expose them to predation. I tell people, would you rather be attacked repeatedly by sharks or humanely euthanized?" McFee said.
"These people (trying to push the whale back out) put themselves in grave danger. They've got a 900-pound animal in the surf at night. There's that sign at Fort Moultrie warning of dangerous currents. One whack of that tail and they can knock you out, then you've got a search and rescue on your hands," he said.
Marine debris is one of those gnawing concerns for conservationists and biologists. Animals eat it and get tangled up in it. Debris can damage ships and transport invasive species. And human health concerns have begun to be raised. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has launched a multi-agency task force trying to educate people.
"Stow your waste on board the boat and if you see things floating in the water, pick them up and dispose of them on the dock," McFee said.
Reach Bo Petersen at bpetersen@postandcourier.com or 937-5744.
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sardis12 (anonymous) says...
Very sad...
June 19, 2009 at 12:44 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SomeTruthPlease (anonymous) says...
Simply horrible. I'm beginning to despise plastic. I wish I knew how to live without it. If we had excellent ways of reusing/disposing of it, and more people would commit to making the lifestyle changes necessary, we'd see less of this thing happening. The ocean truly is a dump, and that is a mortifying thought.
June 19, 2009 at 2:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pirate42 (anonymous) says...
there are ways to do this but just like the car industry , that part of the industry do not want to change because of cost there is plastic out there that will simple decay and disolve but its TO EXSPENSIVE TO SWITCH...
June 19, 2009 at 5:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OldSouth (anonymous) says...
I often Kayak just beyond the breakers of Sullivans and Isle of Palms and see tons of trash. It amazes me how much crap lingers off shore. Ive seen eveything from plastic bottles to florescent light bulbs floating around out there. Im surprised more animals are not killed by all that stuff. People are slobs.
June 19, 2009 at 5:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Tides (anonymous) says...
The lowcountry has become horribly trashy (again) because of people who DO NOT give a hoot about tossing their trash out anywhere. Although the penalty is a fine or jail time, NOBODY has gone to jail for it. Why hasn't anyone been made an example out it????
June 19, 2009 at 5:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchdog (anonymous) says...
Philadelphia Council rejects plastic-bag ban
By Sandy Bauers
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philly has bagged its bag ban. For now.
City Council yesterday voted down a measure - two years in the making - that would have nixed carry-home plastic bags from major stores, allowing only paper, compostable plastic, and reusable bags.
The 10-6 vote came after the environmental committee earlier this year withdrew a similar bill, which would have enacted a 25-cent fee on plastic bags.
But the bill's supporters vowed that the battle of the bags is far from over and that they would work all the harder to, as Councilman James Kenney put it, "catch up with the world."
Even Councilman Darrell L. Clarke, who voted against yesterday's measure, said he was "prepared to continue to engage. I do think something should be done."
Worldwide, prompted by concerns about litter and the environmental cost of widespread use of thin-film disposable-plastic bags, about a dozen nations have enacted bans or similar measures. So have companies such as Ikea and Whole Foods.
Earlier this month, Achim Steiner, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, said the bags "should be banned or phased out rapidly everywhere. There is simply zero justification for manufacturing them anymore, anywhere."
June 19, 2009 at 7:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchdog (anonymous) says...
His statements accompanied a report assessing marine litter in the 12 major regional seas around the world.
In May, State Sen. Daylin Leach (D., Montgomery/Delaware) introduced a bill calling for a two-cent fee on plastic bags given out by larger stores. It has been referred to the finance committee.
"We are using these plastic bags, which last for hundreds and hundreds of years, unnecessarily. There are alternatives," he said yesterday. Similar bills have been introduced in New Jersey.
Several other U.S. cities have proposed similar measures; Baltimore is considering a 25-cent fee. First was San Francisco, which successfully enacted a ban in 2007, but since then, the industry has fought back hard.
Seattle passed a 20-cent fee on plastic in 2008, but in the weeks following, the industry sent a phalanx of out-of-state workers to town to gather signatures for petitions that would derail the measure, said Heather Trim of People for Puget Sound, an advocacy group.
The move was successful, and now Seattle voters will decide the question in an August ballot measure.
In other places, the plastics industry has filed legal action against bag fees or bans.
Saying they were appalled at the aggressive tactics, Council members launched a few salvos of their own yesterday.
Council held off on similar legislation two years ago and contended that a lack of cooperation from the industry since then forced them this time to dig in their heels.
Councilman Frank DiCicco said the American Chemistry Council, a vigorous opponent, was "manipulative" and "showed little integrity throughout" the process.
His aide, Brian Abernathy, said the industry "misrepresented" facts at the public hearing - "i.e., plastic biodegrades and that the legislation would cost hundreds of jobs. Or that it would harm poor people more than others."
"In five years of working in Council," Abernathy said, "I've never dealt with a lobbying effort like this."
Keith Christman, senior director of packaging for the American Chemistry Council, denied the claims. He maintained that a "tax" - a term supporters of the bill have objected to - would "clearly impact people with limited incomes" more than others.
He said that Council's action yesterday was "the right approach." He contended that instead of encouraging reusable bags, a plastic ban would simply result in a shift to paper, which studies show has a greater environmental impact.
He said that the industry had made progress, nationwide and in the region, and that, while Kenney and DiCicco said promises had not been kept, it was simply a matter of the industry's not keeping Council informed.
Kenney also denounced Jeff Brown, owner of five ShopRite stores within the city limits, for his vigorous opposition to the bag ban.
June 19, 2009 at 7:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
I have been in or around SC most of my life, and I have traveled all over the country frequently for a long time. From what I have seen, SC is among the trashiest places that I have seen. I've also seen places where trash is conspicuous by its almost total absence. I know how we are and have little hope that any kind of campaign will change us here in SC. So, what I do is simply content myself to carry extra trash bags whenever I go on or near the water and bring back more than I take.
June 19, 2009 at 7:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchdog (anonymous) says...
Kenney said Brown "would like to see the streets continue to look they way they do" - a reference to ubiquitous plastic litter - and said he would urge people to "spend their money elsewhere."
Clarke, however, praised Brown because he "is willing to go into neighborhoods where no one else will."
ShopRite spokeswoman Karen Meleta said that Brown was unavailable and that she could not comment on remarks she had not heard firsthand.
But she added that Brown and ShopRite "are very engaged and concerned about the environment and have taken steps long before it was fashionable to do so."
She touted the success of the store's bag-reduction efforts, which include plastic-bag recycling and crediting customers five cents for every canvas, heavy plastic, or other reusable bag they use.
The city's new Greenworks plan has endorsed measures to limit plastic-bag use. When Mayor Nutter introduced the plan earlier this year, he chanted to an audience at the Franklin Institute: "No more plastic bags!"
Kenney said he would spend his summer motivating environmental groups.
Many are already on board. Joseph Otis Minott, executive director of the Clean Air Council, said yesterday's vote was "a step in the wrong direction for Philadelphia."
"These single-use plastic bags will continue to litter our streets and parks, fill our landfills, harm urban wildlife, clog our sewers, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars," he said.
Among those who voted against the ban were Councilman Frank Rizzo, who had supported it in committee.
"I learned a little bit I didn't know," he said after the vote. "I don't think we're done."
He said that the bag fee was confusing and that, "until we have a suitable alternative, we just shouldn't ban something."
June 19, 2009 at 7:12 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchdog (anonymous) says...
You are 100% right theronce, SC natives are slobs. They need to stop messing my state up. There are better ways of doing things.....
June 19, 2009 at 7:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
follygirl (anonymous) says...
Its not the plastic's fault, or the trash's fault. Its the ignorant people who dont take their trash with them. At all beaches, there are trash cans you can leave you trash in as you leave the beach. DO IT! Plastic didn't kill the whales, it was people who were too lazt to pick up after themselves. I live on the beach and see this everyday. I and many friends pick up trash continuously. The beach is our home also. If you cant take your trash with you, dont come to the beach. Or any other place you leave trash for that matter. This is way too sad and it shouldn't have happened!!!! I am angry and very saddened by this.
June 19, 2009 at 7:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LocalHero (anonymous) says...
Most likely someone didn't take a garbage bag to the beach and leave it there. It probably blew off a ship or off the shore into the ocean. Plastic is a problem in and of itself. It won't degrade in our lifteimes. Have you ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/
How many here use canvas bags at the grocery?
June 19, 2009 at 7:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SCHoser (anonymous) says...
I'm not sure how we in SC stack up to other places-I have seen much in my life time of good and bad all over. I have been to some beautiful places in this Country and this state, but also some downright nasty places too. Some places where it looks pristine from the outside only to reveal what amounts to an open landfill. I travel a lot to the mountains and see where trail heads are treated like garbage dumps. I went out to Long Beach CA and was horrified by the trash there. Some areas of NY the trash is just piled up-you can't even get to some places because of the trash. The sad thing is, it would not take much for us to resolve this problem. If each person would just be responsible. Unfortunately, it only takes a few to exasperate the problem and we all see it every day. People flicking cigarette butts out the windows of cars, cups and wrappers all over-I have even seen A woman change a baby's diaper and leave the dirty diaper in the parking lot! Several people yelled for her to stop, but she just took off. I came out of my house yesterday morning and a tire was in the road in front of my house. A tire! People, surely we can do better than this. Does anyone realize that ships out at sea dispose of all their trash once they get to a certain point? I believe it's 50 miles out but a lot of it rides the current. In the Navy once we hit that point, we would form a detail and dump storerooms full of trash-in plastic bags no less-over the fantail. Trust me-trash from 600+ people over a few days adds up! There is a floating mass of trash in the ocean as big as Rhode Island if not bigger! I am no tree hugging environmentalist, but even I realize we need to treat our home better than this!
June 19, 2009 at 7:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SCHoser (anonymous) says...
The garbage patch is the size of Texas? OMG!
June 19, 2009 at 7:52 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GAL2000 (anonymous) says...
Don't forget the clasic "flicking the cigarette butt" out the window, with no regard of who or what it hits, and where it ends up. Biodegradable, I think not!
June 19, 2009 at 7:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Southern_Cousin (anonymous) says...
I often walk Beachwalker Park with a bag to pick up garbage - and this is 99% garbage that has blown, fallen or been tossed off a boat or a ship.
It's disgusting - I can't believe Beachwalker Park made the top 20 beaches list - with all that garbage that is always out there.
It makes me sick to know a beautiful mammal and her baby died so horribly because someone was too lazy and too trashy to care for the environment.
Lots of people are nasty and lazy. But, you don't be one of them. All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten ..
June 19, 2009 at 8:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
loopdeedo (anonymous) says...
Has anyone ever seen the movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still?" It's main theme is totally true: humans are destroying the earth.
June 19, 2009 at 8:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
shoelaces (anonymous) says...
Ok....lots of people against plastic out there.
I am not a "tree-hugger" or all that "green" but I do pick up trash, especially when on the water. There are many times we have circled around to lift trash out of the creeks and rivers.
I don't see all the filth some of you claim to see in the area???? Charleston is a beautiful place and the local beaches are pretty clean. We frequent many by boat and rarely do we see trash. That's pretty amazing considering boaters have to bring bags or trash buckets to pack their garbage up when they leave.
Sad story about the whales...they must have suffered terribly.
June 19, 2009 at 8:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
oldglory (anonymous) says...
I hear y'all. Now, tell me just how all of us in SC will reach agreement on this issue, much less on any other issue we face. I've rarely seen two commenters agree on an issue. Seems to me SC values individual independence far more than it values the good of the state, county, etc. You get my meaning, I'm sure.
June 19, 2009 at 8:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
oldglory, you are so right about the individualism, and I applaud that. However, I think that just about everyone that posts here regularly agree that trashing is bad. The differences come in the "how" to fix the problem. We have more than enough laws to fix the problem if they were enforcable, so what is left is for each individual to do they can themselves and influence those around them to do the same. Eventually, that with peer pressure can do it, I hope.
June 19, 2009 at 9:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kcc (anonymous) says...
Thanks follygirl-I agree with you. It isnt the plastics fault. It is the trashy people. Just like guns-guns dont kill people do. McDonalds doesnt make you fat-eating like a pig does---Cigs---no one makes you smoke, so if you die of lung cancer, dont blame the cig people. Lets start being accountable for our actions and stop blaming everyone and everything. If there is trash in our waters, lets find out why and HEAVILY fine those responsible.
June 19, 2009 at 9:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
desspec (anonymous) says...
There you go, more fees (TAXES), that'll solve everything. How many posters here participate in Beach or River Sweeps? They're only once a year.
June 19, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chicago_Thug (anonymous) says...
Sorry, but where is this 'news' story, does it say that the plastic bag came from SC or the Charleston area.
Its sad, but crap happens. How many if you whale lovers are going to eat sea food today?
The Associated Press
Published: November 2, 2006
WASHINGTON: Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades.
If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
"Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems," said the lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Get a grip.
Related question; can the whales be fed to the homeless at any of the local shelters...? Just wondering.
Meanwhile;
In 2000, say World Health Organization and other studies, malaria infected over 300 million people. It killed nearly 2,000,000--most of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Over half of the victims are children, who die at the rate of two per minute or 3,000 per day. Since 1972, over 50 milion people have died from this dreaded disease.
Where DDT is used, malaria deaths plummet. Where it is not used, they skyrocket. For example, in South Africa, the most developed nation on the continent, the incidence of malaria had been kept very low (below 10,000 cases annually) by the careful use of DDT.
But in 1996 environmentalist pressure convinced program directors to cease using DDT. One of the worst epidemics in the country's history ensued, with almost 62,00 cases in 2000. Shortly after this peak, South Africa reintroduced DDT.
In one year, malaria cases plummented by 80 percent. Next door, in Mozambique, whick doesn't use DDT, malaria rates remain stratospheric. Similar experiences have been recorded in Zambia and other African countries.
------------------
Our priorities are so screwed up.
June 19, 2009 at 9:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
I hear all this about the plastic grocery bags not disentigrating for 100s of years...
Last spring I slit some open so they would lay flat and used them as weed blockers in my flower bed. I put them down and covered them with a thin layer of soil. This spring...guess what? They are disentegrated almost to the point of dust.
June 19, 2009 at 9:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
crankyyankee (anonymous) says...
The wife and I are lucky enough to live on the water and frequently return to the dock with a boat load of trash left behind by campers and day trippers. Bottles, cans, Wal-Mart bags, tent frames, rusted lounge chairs, soiled baby dipers, you name it. I have traveled all over the World and must admit other than some third world countries South Carolina is only out littered by New Orleans when in comes to litter in this Country. I've repeatedly whatched fishermen at Crosby's fishing pier through bottles cans and shopping bags off the pier and into the water. This isn't something that just happened it has been a way of life for the locals since they where born. They just don't seem to appreciate what they have!
June 19, 2009 at 9:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
st (anonymous) says...
I would also like to see Charleston be cleaner, but it isn't as bad as some of you are saying. Remember this was a whale that died not a person; stuff happens people get over it.
June 19, 2009 at 9:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chicago_Thug (anonymous) says...
Posted by crankyyankee on June 19, 2009 at 9:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The wife and I are lucky enough to live on the water and frequently return to the dock with a boat load of trash left behind by campers and day trippers. Bottles, cans, Wal-Mart bags, tent frames, rusted lounge chairs, soiled baby dipers, you name it.
--------------------
I agree with you 100%. Pollution, on the coasts is inexcusable. But, there are many more man-made marine destruction occuring because of corporate fishing/Trawling all in the name of a good seafood lunch or dinner.
The National Academy report on Effects of Trawling and Dredging on Sea-floor Habitat notes:
A single passage of a scallop dredge can destroy or damage living maerl, plants, and animals to a depth of 10 cm, and the track remains visible for 2.5 years.
Trawled sea floor areas have a 75 % reduction in total productivity.
In the Gulf of Mexico, bottom trawling for shrimp scours 255% of the sea floor each year. This means that every square meter of sea floor out to depths of 90 meters is trawled 2.5 times a year on average.
I just find the 'outrage' over these poor whales a bit hypocritical.
June 19, 2009 at 9:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GreenvilleGirl (anonymous) says...
I wish we could go back to the days when, if you went to the grocery store, your groceries were put in a brown paper bag. You then saved the bags and used them to line your kitchen trash can. It was recycling at its best, plus, the trash bags WERE biodegradable, and broke down at a must faster pace.
The plastic bags today don't ever break down --- or it takes 20-30 yrs. That's why we're needing more landfills.....or choose to dump it in the ocean. We are a greedy, lazy people and people need to make some changes.
June 19, 2009 at 9:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
There is no indication at all that this bag came from South Carolina. You think because the whale made it to the beach here it must have consumed the bag here and the bag must have come from a South Carolinian? Do you use your brains for something other than to fill the hole in your hats?
One pygmy whale dies from eating a bag and yall are ready for new laws, fines and taxes. Does anyone react proportionatly to offense anymore? Thinking like this is why we end up spending billions of dollars because one kid falls off his bike and hits his head. We have cardboard covers on new knives with a huge warning that the knife is sharp and might cut you because of thinking like this.
June 19, 2009 at 10:01 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LocalHero (anonymous) says...
Suec, the plastic merely breaks down into smaller particles but it's still plastic. Once it's in the smaller particles it begins to get ingested thru the food chain, air and water.
There isn't an easy solution...the human population is simply outgrowing it's space. The negative effects could be delayed if we were to consume less and more consciously (like using less plastic) but at the rate we're growing we'll overrun the earth eventually no matter what we do.
I'll stop typing on my plastic keyboard now....
June 19, 2009 at 10:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tc1 (anonymous) says...
Excellent point majorjohnson.
But as to the litter problem I don't travel at all any more but in the past when you crossed in to NC there was an immeadiate and stark difference in appearence. Don't know if they littered less or cleaned it up faster. On the water or the land it is so simple and easy to carry a litter bag and dump it properly later.
June 19, 2009 at 10:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
While chances are that the plastic bag in the whale did indeed come from somewhere other than SC, I have no doubt that at least one bag from SC did kill some kind of wildlife in the ocean that same day.
June 19, 2009 at 10:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Tammie (anonymous) says...
Very sad story.
June 19, 2009 at 10:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DaisyMae (anonymous) says...
Have any of you seen the movie Wall-E? the cute little Disney robot that was left behind (supposedly) for 5 years to clean up the planet that was SO nasty, trash ridden and toxic that the humans could no longer thrive? I truly think that is the direction that we are headed. It's a cute movie the first time you see it, but the more you watch it, the scarier and more realistic it seems to be. If you have seen it and haven't looked at it from this perspective, I urge you to watch it again.
Seven hundred years and the earth finally becomes livable again. (AND the twinkies are still fresh)
June 19, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SCBorn1 (anonymous) says...
Posted by crankyyankee..."I've repeatedly whatched fishermen at Crosby's fishing pier through bottles cans and shopping bags off the pier and into the water."
Did you report this to officials?
June 19, 2009 at 11:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
crankyyankee (anonymous) says...
Major, I haven't advocated new laws, fines or taxes just smarter more caring natives. I guess that's asking to much and if I don't like the trash I can go back where I came from, cuz that's the way we've always done it! Ya'll are so predictable. Sad, really sad. Don't worry Major, you won't be taxed, fined or legislated to do what's right. It's called pride but I won't waste my time trying to explain that.
June 19, 2009 at 11:26 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
summerville_guy (anonymous) says...
This is exactly why I don't eat trash bags.
June 19, 2009 at 11:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
suec (anonymous) says...
I remember when we were told to use plastic instead of paper because we were killing trees!
June 19, 2009 at 11:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Chicago_Thug (anonymous) says...
I wonder if the bag was a left over trash bag from Halliburton, that Bush and Cheney used to clean up the range in Crawford and than was tossed in the Gulf...?
June 19, 2009 at 12:03 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SCHoser (anonymous) says...
That would be one helluva trip thug! I doubt that's what it was, but nice try! I don't think that the trash factor is political, but then again some people will use anything to hammer on others...Next thing you know we'll have a plastic czar! Maybe this particular bag is the one that Obama had the election in?
June 19, 2009 at 12:33 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
flinsc (anonymous) says...
Are you sure it wasn't Kramer hitting golf balls?
June 19, 2009 at 12:51 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
You don't have to explain anything to me yankee. I'm notorious among my friends and family for rebuking people who litter, pointing out when others litter and picking it up myself. I have bags in the car I carry my groceries home in. I field strip my cigarettes and put the butt in my pocket when there is no can to toss them in, and once I was actually admonished by some do gooder for knocking the fire off my smoke so I could toss the butt in the trash can on the way into the grocery store. She called me a litterbug and a disgusting pig. She was an irrational idiot with absolutely no sense of proportion, and many posting here are as well.
June 19, 2009 at 1:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
kcc (anonymous) says...
What is wrong with placing a fine on criminals????? Maybe if criminals had to pay for their actions, they would--uh, i dont know---STOP committing crimes? I know it is "only" littering. What difference does it make where the whale got the trash bag. It is still littering. And Summerville Guy--I love your comment!
June 19, 2009 at 1:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
iceman1978 (anonymous) says...
It infuriates me to see litter along our beaches, our rivers, ponds, lakes and roadsides. Some people just have no class, no sense of cleanliness, and no sense of pride in how their community looks. You have to wonder how some of these slobs live at home.
Everytime I go for a walk down Folly Beach I bring a trash bag. Just in walking from the end of the road down to the very eastern tip past the old CG station I have sometimes come back with the bag nearly full of litter.
I would recommend that Folly Beach, IOP and other beach communities have police undercover. All it would take is one police officer to walk up and down the beach posing as a tourist. If you catch someone littering, it's a $500 fine and 100 hours community service. Have them walk up and down the streets and beaches picking up trash.
Attention all slobs:
Do us a favor. Next time to consider going to the beach, stay home! Obviously you're not capable of picking up after yourselves so why not keep the litter on your own property. This would keep our beaches cleaner and would keep those among us who have no respect for others to live and wallow in their own filth, just as pigs do.
June 19, 2009 at 1:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Takebackurcountry (anonymous) says...
Doesn't matter where the trash came from. The fact is that SC is one of the most littered states I have ever seen. I remember when Lou Holtz was first hired at USC. He said that SC was a beautiful state so for God's sake stop trashing it up. Once again we count on Mississippi to keep us from being the worst at something. Setting the bar high again...
Taxes don't clean anything, just give lawmakers something to buy votes with. Severe penalties that are actually enforced WILL do the trick. Anyone who has witnessed this sort of thing should record it on your phone and get a tag number. Call your local PD enough to report people and it will become a priority.
June 19, 2009 at 1:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
vmirat90 (anonymous) says...
I agree completely, take. I have called police several times to report blantant trash thrown out of the window of cars, and they basically ignored me. I mean one driver threw out a huge hefty bag of garbage off hwy 41!
And to the cigarette litterers...you people are total pigs. You can choose to pollute your lungs all you want, but when you throw it out the window, you force your nasty habit on all of us. It also says alot about your lack of character.
June 19, 2009 at 2:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Catbus (anonymous) says...
This is really sad....gives me an absolute sick feeling. When will people learn...or when will ALL people care? I hope that all people who have dumped their trash bag in the water, will wonder in their mind "Did I do this?"
I know that there are many who do care about our environment and protecting our wildlife....and then unfortunately, there are those heartless, selfish, uncaring people who just do not care about anything...other than themselves. It is up to us to spread the message of conservation and help them understand the magnificent creatures that God has put on this Earth with us.
The death of the mother and calf in our waters is a heart-breaking one...to think that it happened here.....who could do something so senseless? How sad that the baby only knew to stay with its mother....all creatures have heart and soul.
Please people...do not let this happen again!
June 19, 2009 at 3:04 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
vmirat90 (anonymous) says...
it makes me absolutely sick as well.
June 19, 2009 at 3:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
vmirat90 (anonymous) says...
you are missing what we are saying, Colt. People are irresponsible with their garbage. I don't think that most reasonable people are for the banning of trash bags. People just have to stop being so damn lazy and just discarding their trash because their won't get off their fat arses to find the proper place to put their garbage.
June 19, 2009 at 3:39 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
spengler (anonymous) says...
Everybody wants to rule the world.
June 20, 2009 at 7:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
eatmorecollards (anonymous) says...
South Carolina being such a trashy state. Why do people keep moving here?
Certainly they don't move here to clean things up.
June 20, 2009 at 8:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
JISurfer (anonymous) says...
I've been to HI and CA, SC isn't as bad as those. Granted, we have some trashy areas, but for the most part, we look a lot cleaner than HI and CA. I was out in the Bay area all last week. I truly amazed me, at how trashy that place is. There's piles of loose garbage along the roads and intersections. Really sad.
June 20, 2009 at 6:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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