British Divers Marine Life Rescue received an early morning call yesterday from the local Coastguard unit, which reported that the whale had stranded in Pegwell Bay, between Sandwich and Ramsgate.
East Kent BDMLR member John Brookes led a team which departed in a RIB from Ramsgate to inspect the animal, which was found to be dead.
It could not be determined whether it had died before washing up, or had stranded through illness and/or disorientation before dying.
By evening, with a receded tide and working under floodlights, tissue samples were being taken for scientific analysis.
They were collected by pathologist Robert Deaville, Project Manager of the London Zoological Society’s Cetacean Strandings research programme.
Examination results are passed on to the national strandings database held at London’s Natural History Museum.
Study of tissues can help determine how a creature died, as well as other aspects of its life history such as long-term natural diseases and the effects of toxic pollution.
The stranding of a sperm whale in South East England is a relatively rare occurrence. It is a deep-sea whale which feeds largely on squid.
Its presence not far north of the Dover Strait will have been a highly erroneous departure from its normal Atlantic habitat.
The whale could have swum up the English Channel or, more likely, northward off Britain’s or Ireland’s western seaboard.
It then would have headed back south on the ‘wrong side’ of Britain, having rounded Scotland.
In the Dover area it would have faced the twin problem of food shortage and the possibly disorientating effects of a multitude of shipping noise.
The whale will now be disposed of by Thanet District Council. Following dismemberment, the carcass will be incinerated or taken to landfill, suitably sealed.
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British Divers Marine Life Rescue
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