Littlestone: Dead humpback whale hoisted from St Mary's Bay beach

The carcass of a juvenile humpback whale which was washed ashore has been removed from a beach attracting a crowd of more than a hundred people.

The creature was slowly hoisted into a lorry on St Mary's Bay beach near Littlestone, Kent.

The removal process took several hours. The mammal was first spotted on the beach on Thursday evening.

The whale will be taken to a deep burial site outside of the county, the council told the BBC.

Warning: This story contains distressing images and content.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council issued warnings to the public on Friday to stay away from the dead creature.

A cordon was placed around the carcass and coastguard teams provided safety cover.

Alf Webster, the crane operator, said: "This was a once in a lifetime job. It's not every day you get to lift a whale"

Alfie, 10, who was on the beach to watch the hoisting operation with his mother Emma, said: "It's really cool, but it's really sad at the same time.

"Someone had to come down to the beach and poke holes in the whale to let the gas out."

The whale was identified as a humpback by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Rob Deauville, from the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, who has been taking samples at the scene to find out how the whale died, earlier said: "It is clearly a male whale.

"It almost certainly died some distance away and has decomposed before it came to the beach."

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