Dolphin seen swimming in river is found dead

A dolphin seen swimming in a river in Cornwall has been found dead after becoming stranded.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) service said the animal was first spotted in the Helford River, near Gweek, on Monday.

It said the common dolphin had been briefly "semi-stranded on a grass bank" near the bridge, in the centre of Gweek village, but had been lifted off by the incoming tide.

Despite planning a rescue, the group said Monday evening's high tide meant there had been "no reasonable course of action" at the time. It said the dolphin had sadly been found dead on Tuesday and recovered by experts for post-mortem tests.

BDMLR said the animal had been "free swimming" in a small space in front of a bridge in Gweek village when they arrived on Monday.

"We had begun to plan for an intervention, however, it then swam off downstream and made it as far as the Cornish Seal Sanctuary site before turning round and heading back in," it said.

"It took us a little while to find it again but we found it over the far side of Gweek boatyard just as it got dark.

"At that point, it was high tide and there was no reasonable course of action we could take in those circumstances, so we stood down and awaited reports from local residents and sanctuary staff who would watch out for it again first thing the next morning."

BDMLR said the animal was "sadly found deceased" at about 12:00 GMT on Tuesday.

It said the incident had been passed over to Cornwall Wildlife Trust Marine Strandings Network, whose volunteers recovered the body for the post-mortem tests with Cornwall Marine Pathology Team.

It added other similar incidents had already taken place in Cornwall since the start of the year.

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