Stranded beach dolphin put down

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A dolphin found stranded on a Tyneside beach has been put down by a vet.

A rescue operation was begun after the "distressed" animal was found by a walker on rocks on Longsands beach, Tynemouth, on Wednesday afternoon.

Marine medics from the nearby Blue Reef Aquarium attempted to refloat the male Atlantic white-beak in the sea, but found it was too badly injured.

The body will now be studied by experts from the Natural History Museum in London to establish a cause of death.

Zahra D'Aronville, of the Blue Reef Aquarium, said: "The dolphin was floundering on the rocks and it was very distressed.

"We tried to take into deeper water, but we could not get it to go back out to sea and it had lots of injuries from being trapped on the rocks.

"Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do for it and at that stage the most humane thing was to put it down."