Giant 40-foot whale carcass washes up on Clacton-on-Sea beach in Essex

Local police are working to remove the carcass and have advised people to stay away from the area
There have been frequent reports of large marine animals washing up on Britain's beaches in recent years
PA
David Child29 May 2020

A 40ft-long whale has washed up on the beach at Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex.

The giant marine mammal, which has died, was swept to shore on Friday.

Essex Police said it is working with other organisations to plan how to remove it.

Officers have urged people to stay away from area in a bid to ensure social distancing guidelines aimed at curtailing the coronavirus pandemic are adhered to.

"The area is cordoned off and the public are advised to stay away," the force said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

Eyewitnesses meanwhile described the carcass as a "very sad sight".

Dave Bolton, 83, told the BBC: "I was driving along the seafront when I saw lots of people looking over the railings, so I got out and saw the poor animal - it was a very sad sight indeed."

There have been frequent reports of large marine animals washing up on Britain's beaches in recent years.

A total of 4,896 whales, dolphins and porpoises died on beaches between 2011 and 2017, according to a report published last year.

The tally marked a 15 per cent increase on the corresponding figure for the previous seven years.

Led by Rob Deaville of the Zoological Society of London, scientists compiling the report found a number of causes for the deaths, including infectious diseases, fishing and plastic consumption.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in