A couple of weekends ago, the family joined some other volunteers down at Stutton Ness as part of BeachWatch. A mass-participation event where good souls clean up after bad souls. As we were picking up drink cans, plastic bottles and pieces of broken glass, you really did wonder what on earth possesses people to leave litter. Cretins, the lot of them.
It was sad to read about the fatal stranding of another beached whale this week. This time a ten-metre long Minke on the Suffolk coast at Shingle Street. It strikes me that Shingle Street is not a place that is thronged with visitors and it made me think - why not leave it alone to rot away naturally? I reckon a dead whale would disappear quicker than the soiled disposable nappy that one of the unfortunate BeachWatch vols had to deal with or cause less harm to children than the 180 shards of broken glass we picked up around one fire site. Yes, if a 20 metre Sperm Whale popped up dead on Blackpool beach then by all means deal with it.
Eager to find out what happens, I gave the Marine Conservation Society a bell. Their receptionist told me that all strandings are reported to a national hotline based at the Natural History Musuem. So I called them. A very helpful chap there said that if the carcass was fresh it would be removed for autopsy. I can see the sense in the science there. However, if the poor old cetacean was well past its best then it would be down to the local authority to deal with and of course cover the cost. "Health and Safety" was mentioned. Which brings me full circle back to disposable nappies and broken glass.
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