Police are searching for a man who carried a meat cleaver to the beach by Margate Winter Gardens and started hacking up the corpse of a dead porpoise on Sunday (April 21).
The porpoise had been reported to Margate Coastguard, who attended earlier in the day to take measurements and gather information to be sent to the Natural History Museum. Thanet council was notified to arrange removal.
But the same evening two teenage girls on the beach were horrified when a man, apparently drunk, came over and started kicking the corpse.
One of the 17 year olds told him to stop but the man is said to have become abusive.
The mother of one of the girls said: “My daughter’s friend was upset and telling him not to. Then he pulled out a meat cleaver and started to chop off its head and chopped its fins off and put his hand up inside it.
“The girls reported him for carrying a dangerous weapon and saw three patrol cars but the man had already walked off. He told the girls he wanted it for bait yet left it all behind.”
Police confirmed a report had been made and said officers are now looking to see if the incident was caught on CCTV.
A Kent Police spokesperson said: “Police were called to the seafront in Margate at 8.25pm following a report that a man was cutting up the carcass of a dead porpoise with a meat cleaver. When asked by a passer-by to stop, it is said he was abusive.
“Officers attended and searched the area but the man had left. Enquiries are ongoing to see if the incident was captured on CCTV.”
