(CNN) Environmental campaigners are raising the alarm after a sperm whale was found dead on an Italian beach with plastic in its stomach.

Greenpeace Italia said the carcass of the young animal -- estimated to be 7 years old -- washed up Friday on the beach at Cefalu, a popular tourist destination in Sicily.

Grim images posted on the group's Facebook page show the whale lying on the beach, its stomach full of plastic bags and other plastic objects.

"As you can see from the images we're sharing, a lot of plastic was found in its stomach," Greenpeace Italia's Giorgia Monti said in a statement . "A probe of the sperm whale's death has just started and we don't know yet if the animal died because of this, but we certainly can't pretend that nothing is happening."

"Five sperm whales beached on Italian coasts in the last five months," Monti added.

Read More