The volunteers were on a beach cleaning mission when they came across the stranded fin whale at Nare Point on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall. When a notified team of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue came upon the scene, they warned that the animal was unlikely to survive the stranding. The 60-foot-long fin male was in a “terrible nutritional state, emancipated and appeared to be very unwell”. It was also covered in wounds which most probably resulted from its stranding on rocky substrate. A subsequent post-mortem will be necessary to verify that notion.
Volunteers kept covering the animal in water to keep it from drying out but with the animal’s size, its bad condition and the inaccessible location, there was no possibility for any further rescue attempts than to wait for the tide. As expected, the whale died in the early afternoon. The post-mortem examination will be executed by the Cetacean Stranding Investigation Program.
Since fin whales are not common in the area, BDMLR assumes that sickness or weakness must have brought the animal off its course, with the recent storm adding to the troublesome situation.
A detailed coverage can be found here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8004995/Fin-whale-dies-Cornish-beach-rescuers-battle-vain-save-it.html
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