A dolphin has died after becoming stranded on a remote Scottish island.
The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) team were called to Sanday in Orkney on Saturday after the adult female white-beaked dolphin was found struggling on her side on a rocky shelf in the surf.
Despite their best efforts to refloat her, she died after her condition deteriorated rapidly and the decision was made to euthanise her to end her suffering.
When she was originally found, she was said to be in good condition, although had sustained superficial wounds from gulls on her flank and above her eye.
Unfortunately, tricky weather conditions and strong winds creating big waves meant that the animal could not be refloated where it was stranded at Tofts in Sanday.
A call-out was made on social media to gather volunteers to help move the dolphin, as the remote location made it difficult for a full team of BDLR medics to attend.
A small squad of islanders assisted in moving the animal using a dolphin stretcher and she was loaded into a trailer and moved to a different beach.
When released in the water, she swam away well but instead of heading out into the sea, she circled back and stranded herself again.
After working for several hours to get the dolphin away from the beach, it was decided that they would try a different location.
However, the animal's condition rapidly deteriorated and after a discussion with a vet, they made the tough decision to euthanise her to stop her suffering.
There is no vet in Sanday, so an outside one had to be ferried over to the island, with Flett and Carmichael attending via charter vessel.
The dolphin was euthanised at about 1am on Sunday morning.
It was then retrieved and a full investigation took place that afternoon, with sample taken and sent to the Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme team.
A full report and results will be published later on.
The BDMLR team thanked everyone who came to their assistance in a social media post.
They said: "We would like to thank Flett and Carmichael for all their assistance and for attending late at night.
"Also, all the islanders who rallied together to give this animal as much chance as possible to survive and medics Imogen Sawyer and Russell Neave for attending with the area coordinator and to medic Karen Hetherington on Mainland Orkney for assisting with arranging the vet and charter boat with Groats Charters."
