Group effort helps to save whale beached in Co Kerry

A group effort has helped to save a whale that beached in Co Kerry on Friday.

The minke whale got stranded about 3km inland along the Roughty River near Kenmare.

It was kept alive during the low tide by locals who dragged it into deeper water.

After the water levels recovered the whale was herded by two local boats and brought down the river before it reached Kenmare Bay.

Henk Offereins, a vet involved in the rescue effort, said "the last sighting was of the whale swimming in a straight line towards the sea".

He said it was the second deepest inland a minke whale had ever been found in Ireland.