Stranded whale shot dead after no chance of rescue out of River Thames

A stranded pilot whale was shot dead after desperate attempts to save it from the River Thames estuary.

The South Essex Wildlife Hospital team said they were distressed and saddened that they had been unable to save the two whales, and upset by claims on social media that they hadn’t done enough.

A spokesman added: ‘Outcomes like this are crushing for all involved. It has been a somber morning for many of us, especially with comments about what could or should have been done circulating on social media.

‘Please bear in mind that those involved tried every option open to them and we would have done anything possible to change the outcome if we could.

Wildlife photographer Rosie Barrett, who works for whale charity ORCA, said in a Facebook post that she was devastated. She said that large whales were rarely seen along the coast of Essex.

Ms Barrett, who was called to the scene, said: ‘I knew it was unlikely to be a good result as pilot whales are notoriously difficult because they tend to strand in numbers and all animals have to go out together otherwise they will continue to re-strand due to their tight family bonds.’

‘The teams involved worked really, really hard but sadly it wasn’t the result we had all hoped for with both individuals dying. It’s really frustrating to see comments on public posts about how the situation should have been dealt with and how we could have done better.’

Elsewhere, another pilot whale died on a stretch of beach between Brook and Isle of Wight Pearl near Brighstone after being found by dog walkers yesterday morning.

British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Coastguard crews were called and tried to help it return to deeper waters, but sadly they were unsuccessful and it had to be put down.

After unsuccessful attempts to retrieve the whale’s body, the council confirmed it was removed on Sunday morning when the tide was low.