People turning up and taking pictures of the dead beached fin whale in the breakwater at Shingle Street, near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Shingle Street: Whale death is likely to remain a mystery after autopsy abandoned

By Craig Robinson Wednesday, October 3, 2012
11:00 AM

Whale death likely to remain a mystery

The beached fin whale in the breakwater at Shingle Street, near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

THE death of whale that was stranded on a Suffolk beach may well remain a mystery, experts said last night.

Officials from the Zoological Society of London’s UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) were at Shingle Street yesterday.

They were hoping to perform an autopsy on the 20ft juvenile fin whale, which was spotted on Sunday.

But because the coastline is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), project manager Rob Deaville said it had to be abandoned.

“Trying to sort out the logistics of where we could perform such an examination meant it was just not possible,” he said. “We have still managed to take some basic samples but the cause of death - and why the whale was in the area - will more than likely remain a mystery.”

Responsibility for disposing of the body has now been handed to the district council and they are expected to remove it from the beach today.

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1 comments

What an awful lot of time and money over a dead whale. It's dead. It is deceased. It has moved on. It is no more. It is dead.

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John Alborough

Wednesday, October 3, 2012