Whale's sad end on Rustington beach

A woman walking her dog along the shore near Pigeonhouse Lane on Monday morning (September 7) reported the dead female whale to the Marine and Coastguard Agency, who in turn alerted Arun District Council foreshore officer Geoff Taylor.

The council had to gain permission from the Receiver of Wreck to move the whale further up the beach, so that it was not washed out again at the next high tide, with the risk that it became caught up on a groyne and broke up, causing a possible health hazard.

Dead for two weeks

Once permission was granted, Arun Works Services staff, using a specialist beach recovery vehicle, hauled the whale onto a sled-like structure and covered it with a tarpaulin.

A small crowd gathered to watch the operation, as news of the whale spread through the coastal community by word of mouth and even on Facebook.

A zoologist was called in by London's Natural History Museum, to take tissue and dental samples from the carcass. There was no obvious cause of death and no clear injury marks such as propeller or net scars.

It's thought that the whale had been dead for about two weeks before being washed ashore.

The Natural History Museum has first refusal on any whale washed onto a beach, but decided not to accept this specimen, which was removed by specialist contractors later on Monday, and disposed of in an approved landfill site.

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