Blue Planet II absolutely broke the nation’s heart with one harrowing but important scene

A tough but very important watch.

Aside from the usual superb production values, riveting information and amazing narration by Sir David Attenborough, the most recent episode of Blue Planet II deeply resonated with viewers because of one particular scene.

The image of a mother pilot whale grieving for her dead calf is practically  impossible to forget. As Sir David Attenborough said :"It's very likely that the infant was poisoned by her (the mother whale's) own contaminated milk."

If that wasn't heartbreaking enough, the audience were then informed that "the loss of the infant has affected the entire family" and that unless humans change their attitudes to the oceans "marine life is going to poison them for many centuries to come." Again, it's reported that around 8 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the sea every year, affecting the lives of so many creatures.

Here's the segment in full.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8HGJid-Jo

The official Blue Planet website has shared some important information on this crisis and how the public can help reverse this destructive pattern.

The most simple way to help is by spending two minutes picking up litter on the beach. As Sir David Attenborough stated, the issue of microplastics in the ocean has now become critical. Some of the world’s deepest living sea creatures have been found to have plastic in them including those off the Scottish coast. Researchers at the Scottish Association for Marine Science sampled creatures off the Western Isles and a staggering 48% were found to have plastic in them, at depths of up to 2,000m (6,561.8ft). Given the severity of this footage, plenty of people were moved by the realisation that our seas are in an extremely precarious situation. https://twitter.com/BBCOne/status/932350167096922115 https://twitter.com/GaryLineker/status/932352150746910722 https://twitter.com/brona_mcglock/status/932351686693269506 https://twitter.com/thenamelessfish/status/932350552176054279 https://twitter.com/DeborahMeaden/status/932350795831488512 https://twitter.com/beyer_char/status/932350469384605696 https://twitter.com/theJeremyVine/status/932344191807614977 https://twitter.com/fitasfudge/status/932351645190680576 https://twitter.com/JA_Wylie/status/932368698169491456 This interview is well worth your time. https://twitter.com/UE/status/932357280200364033