THE tragic tale of a whale that gripped a nation was replicated in the calmer waters of a Renfrewshire loch in 2006.

The story of Whaley, the bottle-nosed whale who died after becoming trapped in the River Thames, took on a happier ending in the Castle Semple Loch.

The vets performed an practice rescue operation on a two tonne mammal from the Lochwinnoch shores in a special training exercise.

The mission saw local vets and students from Glasgow University practising first aid and rescue techniques on life-like inflatable models.

Participants donned wet suits and got to grips with an array of rescue equipment as they learned how to take care of beached and injured marine animals.

The course was run by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, the charity which helped move Whaley.

The BDMLR successfully rescued two seal pups off the coast of Scotland, one on Scotstown beach, the other on Inverbervie beach.

Fiona Carswell, development and marketing officer, said: “It was great fun.

“We have the facilities so we were happy to help and it worked out very well.”