Pod follows sick whale into loch

London - The group of 60 pilot whales at risk of beaching themselves on the Scottish coast vanished on Sunday after two died.

The creatures swam off after the body of a female, killed by an infection, washed up in Loch Carnan in South Uist.

A second dead whale was spotted on a nearby islet but could not be reached due to bad weather.

Members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue were on stand-by in case the pod returned. But storms and winds of up to 70mph scuppered their plans to search by helicopter.

A post-mortem examination on the female found “potential evidence of an infection” in a fatty region of its forehead.

Calum Watt, senior inspector at the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the whales’ strong social bonds meant healthy animals within a pod would follow sick and injured ones on to shore.

Alisdair Jack of the BDMLR said: “It is very disappointing to have found the second stranded whale.

“It was spotted through binoculars at around 4pm. Our fear has been that the first dead whale would not be the last.”

The pod was spotted in the loch on Thursday. About 20 whales had head wounds possibly caused by boats or rocks.

In October, 33 pilot whales were nearly stranded in the loch. Less than a week later, they were found dead on a beach in County Donegal, Ireland. - Daily Mail