Body of beached whale dumped at council landfill site » Communities » 24dash.com

People moved by the plight of a whale which was put down after beaching on a UK shore today spoke of their disappointment after its body was dumped at a landfill site.

The 26ft mammal, named Billy by local media, beached at Langstone, near Portsmouth, Hants, and was given a fatal dose of anaesthetic after tests showed it had suffered kidney failure.

But residents spoke of their dismay after it emerged that the northern bottlenose whale's body had been dumped at a landfill site near Bognor Regis, West Sussex.

They said its skeleton should have been preserved and placed in a museum or library in the same way that the whale which died in the River Thames was kept by the Natural History Museum.

Rita Delahunty, landlady of The Ship Inn at Langstone, where the whale first beached, said: "It seems a shame after all it has been through.

"It does seem a bit of an undignified end to put it in a hole."

Paul Fisher, chairman of Hayling Island residents' association, said: "It is not very thoughtful. I think it ought to have been preserved."

Diana Leahy, spokeswoman for Hampshire County Council, said no request had been made to preserve the whale's skeleton and its carcass had been disposed of according to Environment Agency guidelines.

She said: "As a public safety priority, the whale had to be moved to minimise the contamination of the area.

"We do not have the facilities to store a whale and no-one had come forward asking for it to be preserved."