Tragically, the whale had suffered from severe dehydration, which meant it was suffering from renal failure, when it became immobilised on Thursday night.

There was a huge saving arrangement, where humans tried bravely to save the whale’s life. There was a time when the team thought that the kind thing to do would be to put the expansive animal to sleep with a lethal injection. But, the whale then floated out to sea over again. Alas, it came back towards the land again and was then beached for a 2nd and ultimate time.

The vets determined that the only nurturant thing to do would be to issue the lethal injection, which they did on Friday morning. They used Immobilon, which was a very quick acting and fatal strength of anaesthetic.

If the mammal weren’t put to sleep, the experts believe that it would have taken about 2 further days for the beast to die, during which it would have been sick and distressed.

It seemed bizarre that the six tonne mammal, which is commonly found about 3000 miles away, finished up here on Hayling Island, but it is another wonderful story that this south coast little island, called Hayling brings to its history.

There were around a dozen firefighters, police, coastguard personnel as well as members of the Hayling Island harvour lifeboat staff involved in the attempt.