Minke whale washed up on Barra beach

A minke whale has died after washing up on a beach in the Western Isles.

The animal had been found earlier by locals with a rope wrapped around its jaw and body. They managed to cut the rope away, but the whale later died and was found on a Barra beach.

The people who helped the animal believe the rope had broken its jaw.

Chris Denehy, owner of Barra Surf Adventures, filmed the whale while his colleague Ben Morton-Clark cut the rope away from its jaw.

Mr Morton-Clark had paddled out to investigate but he felt too exposed to help the animal - which was between six and seven metres long - without help.

He returned with Mr Denehy and by then the whale was "obviously distressed".

Mr Denehy told the BBC Scotland news website: "It all happened quite quickly - Ben managed to swim over to it and cut the rope, which went right across the whale's mouth and under its body on both sides, on one side and it came out on the other side.

"But the damage had already been done. It looked as though the whale's jaw had been broken.

"We followed it for a bit, it wallowed on the surface and swam along for a bit then we left it - realistically, it don't look too hopeful."

Later on Sunday night, the men heard a whale had washed up on the beach.

Mr Denehy added: "It's a very sad story."

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