Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Devastating’: Beached pilot whale spotted in north east Fife dies

A rescue operation for a beached pilot whale discovered on the shores of Fife has been called off after volunteers discovered the animal had died.

Efforts to save the stranded pilot whale in Wormit were launched after it was reported by a local resident on Wednesday.

But volunteers from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) determined the animal had died after they arrived at Wormit Bay in Fife.

A spokesperson told The Courier it had been been identified as an adult female pilot whale and measured around 4.3 metres.

“It was first reported as possibly a porpoise or dolphin,” the spokesperson said.

“When we got there we found an adult female pilot whale but it was deceased so it was not a live rescue.

Volunteers could not save the whale.

“We did check the nearby area, as pilot whales notoriously turn up in larger numbers, and our initial concern (was) that the dead animal could mean there was more nearby.

“But there was nothing found and we’ve had no reports.

“Hopefully it was just a case of it being an older animal separated from its pod.”

Locals later saw the whale being towed back out to sea by boat, with removal organised by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS).

Stranded whales are not routinely disposed of at sea, as their decomposition can be harmful to other animals.

SMASS will determine how best to dispose of the animal, with a number of options including burial available.

Last year another dead whale discovered in Fife was taken to a landfill site in Dunfermline.

Beached whale leaves locals ‘heartbroken’

Wormit resident Murray Chalmers says he was left heartbroken after seeing the animal towed away.

He said: “I’d hoped there might be a slim chance that it would somehow revive when back in the water, but my neighbour told me it had actually been washed up on the beach last night and so it was dead.

“It was very sad to see this once majestic creature being towed back into the river on a rope.

“I can’t stop thinking about it.

‘Thankfully it hasn’t happened often’

“It’s so devastating to see things like this but thankfully it hasn’t happened often over the 18 years I’ve lived here.”

You can get more information on what to do if you discover a stranded marine animal on the BDMLR website.

Conversation