Whale put down after second stranding

7:16pm Friday 1st August 2008

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A SICK whale was tonight put down despite a massive rescue bid after it became stranded twice on sandbanks off the Hampshire coast.

Around 50 volunteers and rescue workers tried to save the northern bottlenose whale after it became stuck on harbour flats in Langstone, Hayling Island.

Marine experts were about to put it down when it refloated in shallow water and headed into the Solent - one of the world's busiest shipping lanes this morning.

But blood test results showed it was suffering irreversible renal failure.

The 26ft long mammal then got stranded once again on East Winner sand bank, this evening.

Vets Paul Jepson and Rob Deaville, from the Zoological Society of London, a British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) vet and team of marine medics carried out the mercy killing tonight.

Faye Archell, director with the BDMLR, said the whale was administered with a fast acting fatal strength anaesthetic, called Immobilon.

''The decision has been made based on medical grounds,'' she said.

''It's the right decision for the whale. Unfortunately it's not the outcome people would want but it's the right decision for the animal.

''It's sick and distressed and it has come in for a second time. It has chosen to strand both times.

''We now know it's not a navigational error but it has stranded for a reason, it is sick.'' The kidney failure was caused mainly because of dehydration because it had not eaten for at least 48 hours and the muscle damage from being beached.

Dangerous toxins had built up in the six-ton young adult as the weight of its body on dry land, unsupported by water, compressed its organs.

A post-mortem will be carried out and samples will be sent to laboratories around the country for testing.

The body will then be disposed of either out at sea or in a landfill site.

Ms Archell also helped with the rescue of a stranded northern bottlenose whale along the River Thames in London in January 2006.

The female died while being carried to safety on a rescue barge at Gravesend, Kent.

A post-mortem examination carried out at the Zoological Society of London showed the cause of death was probably dehydration.

Its bones have joined the Natural History Museum's national research collection of 2,500 whale, dolphin and porpoise skeletons.

A crowd of more than 100 people watched attempts to save the stricken northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus, today.

It is usually found in deep water, their closest habitat being off the Bay of Biscay where they feed on deep water squid and can grow up to 30ft long.

Rita Delahunty, of the nearby Ship Inn pub, said she believed it was the first time a whale had been seen in the waters around Langstone.

She said: ''It's very, very unusual. We have had seals before but never a whale.'' Marie Stevens, RSPCA animal collection officer, said: ''Luckily we don't get many things like this happening on the South Coast.'' She said people had been willing it to survive.

''There's a certain empathy with wild animals, particularly whales and dolphins. We have a special relationship with them.''