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Whale watchers warned to stay away from humpback spotted off south Devon coast

Police have warned whale enthusiasts to stay away from a humpback spotted off the south Devon coast.  

Dozens of sightseers have been scrambling aboard boats to get close enough to take photos of the whale after she was swept towards the shore with her baby.

Crowds have been drawn to the area, but a police spokesman said: "Please do not go anywhere near it on a boat".

Wildlife expert Linda Hingley, from Brixham Seawatch, said she believes the mother whale is is lost.

She said the noise from boat engines will add to the mother whale's distress and disorientation and reduce their chances of survival.

"I am convinced the adult whale is not well - it is too far south, and it's in completely in the wrong place.

"It should be in the middle of the Atlantic, and it's rare to see one on its own.

"I was really hoping it was a Minke whale, as we occasionally see them off the coast here, and they move through and they're fine. But this is a humpback and it is obviously in trouble.

"There is nothing we can do for it unfortunately, and the last thing we need is people going out in boats to take photos of it."

She fears the whale will 'beach' and get stranded.

"At that point it would be game over. If that happens, the best thing would be for someone to go and put it out of its misery, anything else is just prolonging its suffering and stressing the animal out."

She said it is being harassed by boats after moving to Start Bay from Slapton Ley where it was sighted in mid-week.

Harassment of whales can result in a £5,000 fine or even a prison sentence through the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

The Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority promised to be on scene shortly to police the area.

It's feared Storm Doris has blown the gentle giant and her calf to the West Country coast. Humpback whales are one of the biggest creatures on the planet.

They can grow up to thirty tons and stretch to 50ft in length, but it seems  her strength wasn't enough to withstand Dotty.

She was first spotted floundering in the storm-lashed waves 100 yards off the coast at Slapton Ley earlier this week.

Though its cavernous mouth could swallow a car, it is totally harmless - it loves to hoover up a 'soup' of millions of micropscopic plankton with every gulp.

Humpbacks cover vast distances - often spending part of the year in Antarctica then deserting the South Pole to swim up towards the seas around the North Pole, sometimes pitching up in Beitish waters.