ATLANTIC OCEAN—Shifting uncomfortably in the water as it struggled with painful indigestion, a local fin whale expressed a growing sense of regret Wednesday after eating 290,000 plastic poker chips that had fallen from a container ship during a recent storm. “Ugh, polishing off all those little things was a huge mistake,” said the bloated whale, lamenting that it didn’t show more restraint and stop feeding after straining the first 100,000 small plastic discs through its baleen. “The red ones just looked so tasty, I couldn’t help myself. God, I scarfed down way too many tons of those things. What the hell was I thinking?” At press time, the contrite whale was vowing to stick to a strict diet of krill and the occasional radial tire.

Advertisement