A DEAD starfish has washed up on a Norfolk beach, where it is being carried around by a dog.

Less than a week after a whale washed up on its shore, the corpse of a beige hand-sized starfish was discovered by walkers who have been unable to get it back off their dog.

36-year-old dog owner Martin Bishop said: “The star is as much a miracle of nature as a whale, and when they expire you want them to have dignity in death, or at least not to get carried around by a labrador.”

Bishop’s dog Ranger is thus far refusing to give up the echinoderm’s remains.

He said: “He lets me get almost near enough to grab it, then whips it away and runs off with his tail wagging.

“It’s all a game to him but I just feel that starfish somehow deserves better.”