Body of rotting porpoise found stuffed in a SUITCASE on British beach
Chris Perkins / SWNS The dead porpoise which was found in a suitcase near Romney Marsh car park
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency are investigating the odd discovery, which Mr Perkins spotted by the sea wall in Romney Mark, Kent, on Tuesday morning. Mr Perkins said: "It was very weird. The suitcase was already open. "As soon as I got up to that end of the car park, I saw something stuck out the grass. "Someone had put it on top of the sea wall near the pathway, and lots of people walk that way. It had been dead a long time." He also said the hot weather made an impact on the smell - and knows that it had not been there more than 24 hours because he walks the same route every morning.
He added: "It was really awful. "I'm pretty sure it's a porpoise because it's got a dorsal fin." Authorities dealing with the matter found it difficult at first to identify exactly what type of marine life they were dealing with, but suspect it was a porpoise, which are native to the waters off the Kent coast. An organisation that investigates marine life that becomes stranded around the UK have said it is too decomposed to study. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "A dead marine mammal has been found in a suitcase on St Mary's Bay in Kent.
Chris Perkins / SWNS The Maritime and Coastguard Agency are investigating the odd discovery
We have dealt with cetaceans stranded all around the UK, sometimes in strange places, but I have never seen one packed in a suitcase before Alison Kentuck, Receiver of Wreck
"Dungeness Coastguard Rescue Team was sent early this morning to check and secure the scene after the find was reported to HM Coastguard shortly after 7.30am on Tuesday. "It has also been reported to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Receiver of Wreck who deals with dead cetaceans such as porpoises on the beaches of the UK as they are classed as Royal Fish." Alison Kentuck, Receiver of Wreck, said: "This is an unusual one. "We have dealt with cetaceans stranded all around the UK, sometimes in strange places, but I have never seen one packed in a suitcase before. "It is quite decomposed and, at first sight, it seemed that it might be a small seal rather than a porpoise which means it wouldn't come under our remit.
"However, colleagues at the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme have identified it as a porpoise, but the state of decomposition is such they would not want to collect the animal for further study so the local council has been asked to dispose of it." A spokesman for Folkestone and Hythe District council said: "We were made aware of this this on Tuesday. "We visited the beach earlier today but, from the location we had been given, we could not find the suitcase or the porpoise. "We have now been given more accurate information and are currently re-visiting the beach where we will hopefully find the dead porpoise and remove it."
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