Sixth Whale Stranded on East Anglian Beach.

The sperm whale which has washed up on a beach in Norfolk. Photograph: Scott Baldry/PA

 Another sperm whale has become stranded on the east coat of England, the sixth to wash up on British shores in recent weeks.

The huge mammal, which is still alive, is stranded at Hunstanton beach in Norfolkand is unlikely to survive, said British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

Stephen Marsh, operations manager for BDMLR, said there was nothing the volunteers could do due to the size and weight of the animal.

“It’s a sperm whale, another male. It’s the 29th stranding we’ve had in Europe in the last couple of weeks,” he said.

“We had two in Germany last night, one in France on Tuesday night. It’s a live stranding but it’s unlikely to survive. The tide may well lift it but we don’t think it would survive another stranding if it came back in.

“There’s nothing we can do; it’s likely to be between 25 and 30 tonnes. We can’t lift it, we can’t roll it, the vets can’t put it out of its misery.

“The body will be breaking down and releasing toxins, causing organ failure. It’s a very sad case but we will have to let nature take its course.”

The latest stranding comes after three whale carcasses were hauled away from a beach near Skegness in January.

Crowds flocked to see the whales, believed to be from the same pod as one that died on Hunstanton beach in January, despite efforts to help it back into deeper water after it became stranded.

Rob Deaville, project manager at the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, said it was “reasonable to assume” that the pods entered the North Sea together in the hunt for food.

“The question that’s left still hanging is why they came in the North Sea in the first place and whether the French, the German events are all connected in some way,” he said in January.

“I think it’s reasonable to assume that the pods – because there can be more than one pod – came in at the same time, given the spatial and temporal stranding events. I think that’s a reasonable assumption to make.”

Sperm whales are deep sea creatures and can easily become disoriented if they get into shallow water. The whale is said to be 1.5 miles out on the sand and the coastguard is also in attendance.

Source: the guardian.