Mystery of dead porpoise discovered in pool of blood in village alleyway a mile from the sea

Residents of a West Sussex village were shocked and outraged when they found a four-foot-long porpoise dumped in an alleyway near their homes. The male harbour porpoise, a relation of the whale and dolphin, was found in a pool of blood in Pilgrims Walk, Tarring just outside Worthing, at 6.05pm on Saturday.



Tim Allen, 31, of Pilgrims Walk, was one of the first people on the scene after his neighbour knocked on his door and insisted there was something he needed to see. Mr Allen said: “It was all very surreal. Your eyes were seeing a porpoise, but your brain just wouldn’t process it. It looked like it had been dragged, but even so, that would require a lot of effort.

"We're all floundering as to who, or what, would do such a thing. It's mad." He said that its body was warm and blood was dripping out its body. He rang the RSPCA, who sent an emergency inspector to examine the mammal. Tim added: "Nobody has a clue how it got here. We were all stood round, all bemused. If it was put there as a joke, it wasn't a funny joke."



The corpse has been taken to the Zoological Society of London, where a post-mortem will be conducted. A spokesman for the RSPCA said: "At present, we are not aware of any animal welfare issues but it is hoped tests will provide answers to this. He may have died from natural causes and washed up on the beach, and then later transported inland."