Stranded minke whale rescued from Hartlepool beach

The animal had become stranded on Fish Sands beach on the Headland, close to the Town Wall on Saturday, August 1.

A Humber Coastguard spokesman said an emergency call had come in around 11am on Saturday.

An update on the British Divers Marine Life Rescue said the whale had swum away during the rescue effort.

"At around 11am this morning we received a call to our rescue hotline about a stranded cetacean at Hartlepool,” a statement said.

"By 11.20am this was confirmed to be a minke whale.

"Our trained marine mammal medics responded swiftly and with assistance from the the local Coastguard team were able to reach the stranded animal and provide support in the water while we waited for equipment to arrive and sought advice from an experienced veterinarian.

“With the tide rising we needed to keep the animal close to shore without causing it to strand, so that we could continue to assess its breathing and manoeuvre it onto rescue pontoons for the safety of our volunteers and others in the water.

“Once the equipment was in place the teams assembled the rescue pontoons so that the whale was held safety between them, but before we were able to inflate them the whale made a sudden movement and swam away.

“The whale didn't move too far and our team are now following it and hope to again get the whale secured safely so the vet on scene can make a proper assessment.”

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