Mystery as third dead whale found

CONSERVATIONISTS are trying to find out why a young whale washed up dead at Spurn Point, the third in six months.

The minke whale, believed to be around 14ft long, was first spotted by fishermen on Sunday night on the Humber Estuary side of the peninsula.

It appears to have suffered serious trauma to its side and head but until the results of a biopsy, carried out by British Divers Marine Life Rescue, are analysed, the cause of death will not be known.

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The Zoological Society of London is planning to come and do a full autopsy today, but the whale may have been washed back out to sea, the owners of the Spurn Point nature reserve, Yorkshire Wildlife Trust said.

The sad end for the whale follows similar strandings, including a fin whale which washed up dead on the peninsula last Autumn, followed a week later by a sei whale found between Skeffling and Welwick.