A WHALE stranded on an Isle of Wight beach — but which had to be put down — has now been recovered.

A specialist recovery team from the Isle of Wight Council has successfully removed the young pilot whale from the beach, near Brook, this morning (Sunday, October 6). 

The whale was discovered struggling and injured, trying to right itself and breathe, close to the shoreline yesterday (Saturday).

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A dog walker and a Freshwater man helped keep the whale upright and breathing, until coastguard teams and members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue team arrived, to try to save the stranded mammal.

Unfortunately, a decision was taken by a Sandown vet to put the 400lb animal to sleep yesterday afternoon after extensive efforts by rescuers to save it.

"The whale was located in a difficult to reach beach area. The contractor was able to recover the whale and transported it up the beach to an accessible location," a council spokesperson told the County Press this morning.

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"The whale will then be transported to the mainland later today and transferred to the Cetacean Stranding Investigation Project, which will be investigating this sad stranding, alongside the two others in Essex this week.

"An investigator from The National Zoological Society will keep the council updated on the outcome of the investigation."