A WHALE which was beached on the banks of the Rivern Severn last night has been put down, despite a night-time rescue attempt.
Sharpness and Chepstow Coastguards, British Divers Marine Life Rescue and the Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) spent hours trying to save the calf beaked whale.
Merv Fleming, station chairman of Sara's Beachley and Sharpness crews, said specially trained members were dispatched from Chepstow to Aust, on the English side of the Severn near the M48 motorway bridge.
Three teams in Land Rovers and a mid-sized lifeboat took mud rescue equipment to get water to the animal, but the "ferocious" current and rocks meant the crew could not get within 100 yards. Avon Fire and Rescue Service attempted to pump water across a quarter of a mile to the calf, but a veterinary surgeon decided it was safest to euthanise it, said Merv.
"Being a calf, even if it was taken back out to sea it may have just continued to destroy itself by swimming up the estuary," said Merv, who has been a volunteer with Sara for 14 years. He said the crew was "pretty choked" when the animal had to be euthanised.
If you see a whale, dolphin, porpoise or sturgeon washed onto the shore, call 999 and ask for the coastguard.
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