Post-mortem tests to be held on beached whale

Volunteers had been dowsing the whale in water to help keep it alive

A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out on a whale which died after beaching itself on rocks in Cornwall.

The 20m-long fin whale looked "emaciated" but was thrashing its tail on Parbean Cove before it stopped breathing on Friday afternoon.

Dan Jarvis, from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), cautioned against "jumping to conclusions" that the death was caused by plastic.

Whale deaths in the UK directly caused by plastic are "very rare", he added.

A veterinary pathologist from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust will carry out the procedure, which involves cutting open the side of the animal and taking samples for analysis.

• How do you do a post-mortem on a whale?

"Because of where the animal is it might be difficult to do a post-mortem," said Mr Jarvis, who will assist the procedure.

"If we can get access to the stomach it should be fairly easy to tell whether there is plastic in there.

"Whatever samples we get will be taken for DNA and pollution testing."

The fin whale was confirmed dead on Friday afternoon

Mr Jarvis said Parbean Cove was a privately owned beach, so the removal of the whale would be "up to the landowner".

As a particularly rocky beach, burial won't be an option at Parbean, but the animal could be towed to "a more suitable site", he added.