Porpoise found with head cut off on Welsh beach

Warning: This story contains details and images of animal cruelty

The body of a porpoise was discovered with its head cut off on a Welsh beach.

The small dolphin-like animal was found on Aberffraw beach on Anglesey on Sunday morning by a couple who were walking their dogs.

The couple said they found a "bloody saw" in a rubbish bin opposite the beach.

Porpoises are protected by law, and killing or moving the mammals is a crime.

Lowri Mair Jones, who spotted the animal, said that police told her that porpoise skulls sell for "big money on the internet".

Ms Jones, from the Llangefni area, said she often walks her dogs in Aberffraw.

"My partner saw a suspicious bloody saw in one of the bins opposite the beach just before 09:00 on Sunday morning, so we called the police straight away," she said.

"We carried on through the dunes towards the beach and that's where we saw the porpoise with its head sawn off.

"It was quite obvious to me that someone had done this on purpose."

Lowri and her partner decided to call the police again who told them the animal was probably killed for profit.

Frankie Hobro, owner and director of the marine resource center Sw Môr Môn, said: "It is possible that the porpoise died shortly before becoming stranded on the beach, but it is also possible that it was still alive when its head was cut off, which is obviously terrifying to consider."

Frankie added that anyone who finds a marine animal on a beach - alive or recently dead - should call the Marine Strandings Network, who can refloat and release animals back to sea or collect the carcass on for research purposes.

PC Amy Bennet from North Wales Police said: "This is a distressing incident and an offense under the Habitats and Species Protection Regulations 2017.

"Anyone with information, or anyone who saw the incident, is asked to contact us."