Another whale found stranded on German North Sea island

Another dead whale has been found stranded on a German island in the North Sea.

The minke whale washed up on the east side of the uninhabited island of Minsener Oog, a spokesman for the Wadden Sea National Park said on Thursday.

It is still unclear why the 6.5-metre-long marine mammal died.

The dead animal was discovered on Tuesday evening and reported on Wednesday, said the national park spokesman. Experts will attempt to take samples from the whale and examine them over the next few days to determine the cause of death.

Germany's Waterways and Shipping Authority says the whale poses no danger to shipping and can therefore be left to nature.

The route to the uninhabited and remote island southeast of Wangerooge is difficult, the spokesman explained. Bird protection has priority there, and public entry is not permitted.

Whether and when experts will be able to access the site depends, among other things, on the weather and the tide.

Whales stranding on the North Sea is a recurring phenomenon. A humpback whale was discovered at the end of February at approximately the same latitude as the latest site.

Investigators found the animal was severely weakened by intestinal parasites and had eventually been washed ashore.

A few days earlier, a dead sperm whale weighing 10 to 15 tons was discovered off Sylt and brought to the island's beach.

At the beginning of 2016, 30 young sperm whales stranded and died in the North Sea, two of them on Wangerooge beach. The skeleton of one of these animals is now on display in the island's national park visitor centre.