Dead porpoise washes up on beach
Eleana Jane CairnsA dead porpoise has washed up on a popular beach.
It was found on Redcar beach, Teesside, on Saturday but was already dead when a medic from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) arrived at the scene.
The animal appears to have been attacked and there are visible marks along its back and a large wound on its face.
BDMLR said it could not confirm the porpoise's cause of death until a post-mortem examination had been carried out.
"We will get it collected by CSIP (the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigations Programme), which will do a post-mortem to look at what the cause of death was," a spokesperson said.
The death of the Redcar porpoise is not believed to be related to the recent boat crash which took place off the Yorkshire coast.
Speaking about the porpoise online, the BDMLR medic said it could have been killed by bottlenose dolphins.
Dolphins are known to attack the smaller animal but the event is rarely seen.
In 2016, gig rowers in Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall witnessed a dolphin flip a porpoise in the air in a deadly attack.