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Dead whale washes up on beach at Foreness Point in Thanet

A dead whale washed up on a Kent beach has been removed.

The mammal, measuring about 35ft, was discovered yesterday morning.

Originally it was believed to be a minke whale, but experts who carried out a post mortem late yesterday have declared it to be a fin whale.

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The dead whale washed up today. Picture: Chris Davey.
The dead whale washed up today. Picture: Chris Davey.

It's now been removed from the seafront at Foreness Point in Thanet, between Cliftonville and Broadstairs by the council.

A Thanet council spokesman said today: "Council officers started work at 5am this morning to ensure the whale was removed from the beach for disposal by 6:30am.

"Thanks go to the Coastguard, Kent Police, Kent County Council Emergency Planners, DDS demolition and the Institute of Zoology for all their hard work in this unusual situation."

Experts from the Zoological Society of London, a partner organisation of the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (UK CSIP), have been at the scene.

Yesterday, Rob Deaville of the society said a group would be spending a couple of hours carrying out a post mortem.

He said the mammal was a fin whale - the fifth to be stranded in the county in the last 25 years.

It had obviously been struck by a boat, but the team needed to establish whether that was before or after death.

The programme coordinates reports of dead stranded whales, dolphins and porpoises - collectively known as cetaceans - and basking sharks and marine turtles from around the UK.

Police guarding the whale. Picture: Chris Davey.
Police guarding the whale. Picture: Chris Davey.

Rebecca Lyal is the cetacean strandings support officer based at the Natural History Museum, one of the other organisations that forms the CSIP.

She said: "The samples provide an insight into the cause of death, as well as examining the diet of the whale and any diseases or parasites it contracted during its life."

A dead whale was spotted at the London Array windfarm off the Thanet coast on Monday. It is not known if it is the same one.

The mammal was found dead on the beach. Picture: Chris Davey.
The mammal was found dead on the beach. Picture: Chris Davey.
The whale washed up between Foreness Point and Botany Bay. Picture: Chris Davey.
The whale washed up between Foreness Point and Botany Bay. Picture: Chris Davey.

Once the samples have been taken, it will be the council's responsibility to dispose of the carcass.

But a Coastguard spokesman said the ship death theory had not yet been proved.

He estimated the whale was four years old and the propeller wounds were probably caused by a collision with a ship after it had died.

He said: "It probably died of contamination after eating a plastic bag or something similar."

A dead humpback whale was spotted off the Thanet coast earlier this week. Picture: Kevin Clark.
A dead humpback whale was spotted off the Thanet coast earlier this week. Picture: Kevin Clark.
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