Oil container washes up on beach
THE Coastguard has issued an urgent warning after an oil container was found discarded on a beach.
Plymouth Coastguard Rescue Team took to Facebook to issue the warning after one of its crew stumbled across the large container on Wembury beach, near Plymouth.
It warned that, if the container had opened, it would have caused harm to wildlife and pets, as well as those on the beach. A coastguard crew member has removed the container from the beach and disposed of it in the correct manner.
Wembury Marine Centre added that it was a “fairly common occurrence” because of strong winds and tides. Beach cleans are to resume as soon as lockdown restrictions are eased.
A LIFEBOAT crew called out to what appeared to be the upturned hull of a yacht found the carcass of a dead humpback whale, floating off the Cornish coast.
Falmouth Coastguard received a report of what looked like an overturned hull drifting in Looe Bay last Friday, and the RNLI lifeboat station at Looe was alerted and launched to carry out a search.
However, as the lifeboat crew approached the object, they were able to see it was the decomposing carcass of a whale. “After reporting their find and current position to the Coastguards, our crew were stood down and returned to station,” said a spokesman.
Dan Jarvis, of British Divers Marine Life Rescue, said: “Sadly, it’s a humpback whale. We’ve had a number of sightings of them around the coast over the last few months.”
The sighting has been reported to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.
SEVEN sheep have died after a dog attack in north Devon.
The animals were all ewes and were carrying twins.
According to Lynton Police, the incident happened in the Parracombe area between 3pm on Tuesday, March 9, and 10am on Thursday, March 11. A police spokesman said the animals were Swaledale Ewes and they were attacked by a dog or multiple dogs.
Last Thursday, police said that six had died and more were left injured.
Lynton Police later confirmed that the seventh sheep had died from shock.
Police added: “All these Swaledale Ewes were carrying twins! In a fenced field which had a public footpath going through it and not an open moorland.”
The public and farmers are reminded that they can call 999 if they witness dogs worrying livestock, as it is considered an emergency if there is likely to be serious damage to livestock.
The advice, to enable a call to be correctly graded, is to stress to the operator that there either has been, or will be, serious damage to livestock.
Callers are asked to provide an accurate location and, in remote areas, try to provide both Ordnance
Survey grid co-ordinates and the location of the nearest road and point of interest.
If possible, callers are to arrange to meet officers to guide them to the location. People can also contact 101 using the online reporting form, or ring 101 if livestock has been attacked and dogs have left the location. Intelligence on poorly controlled dogs regularly trespassing on farm land should also be reported.