A minke whale which washed up on a Scottish beach has been removed after initial attempts to lift the mammal’s carcass failed.
People have been told to avoid the area where the 31-foot cetacean made landfall until after high tide has cleared any remaining debris.
The minke’s remains were taken from the beach by a private waste disposal company at the second attempt after an operation to lift the multi-ton animal on Thursday failed.
The area it was discovered has been raked over but beach goers and dog walkers are being advised to stay clear for a day or so.
The marine animal was first spotted by a skipper from a Scottish Seabird Centre wildlife tour by Craigleith Island on Wednesday.
READ MORE: River Forth's whales, porpoises, dolphins and seals through new lens
Later in the day, it floated towards North Berwick Harbour before being washed onto a beach in the coastal town.
East Lothian Council was first alerted to the sighting of the whale on Wednesday and contacted an external contractor to help with the removal.
Minke whales are among the smallest of the baleen whales and usually measure an average of 27 ft - however, the council has said that the adult female on West Beach measures 9.5m (31 ft) in length.
The incident was reported to the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) which collates and analyses all reports of stranded whales and dolphins.
READ MORE: Minke whale washes up on North Berwick beach
Samples were taken from the carcass for future study, but there is no information on how it came to die.
There were no signs of entanglement or collision on the whale, and it is assumed it died from natural causes.
East Lothian sees around three to four whales wash up every year.
A council spokesperson said: "The minke whale carcass was removed from West Beach, North Berwick this morning.
“The surface sand has been raked over but the advice to visitors is to avoid this area, including keeping dogs away, until after this afternoon's high tide which will wash away any remaining debris.
“The carcass has been taken by an external waste removal company.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel