A dog walker discovered what appears to be an elephant tusk while strolling down a Kent beach.

Ken Murphy found the unusual piece stuck between rocks while out with his shih tzu on Louisa Bay, in Broadstairs.

The find is a metre long, 10cm wide and weighs just more than five kilos.

Mr Murphy, 59, carried the tusk back to his Ramsgate home and placed it in his front room. He is now debating what to do next, aware that is illegal to sell or trade ivory in the UK.

He told KentOnline: “I was going to leave it there, but then I decided to pick it up and carry it on my shoulders back home.”

“I don’t know what to do with it because there’s all these rules. You can’t sell it.

“Yesterday I just stuck it in the front room on a bit of cardboard.

“My house isn’t the sort of place where you'd hang up an elephant tusk.”

Similar finds have previously been linked to shipwrecks and Mr Murphy has.reported his discovery to the Receiver of Wreck at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

In fact It was the hope of seeing parts from a shipwreck two years ago that prompted the Ramsgate resident to visit Louisa Bay.

He said: “I don’t usually walk that way, but that day I had heard there were remnants from a shipwreck in 2022 visible.

“I didn’t find the boat because the tide wasn’t low enough - but I did find the tusk.

‘It just seems strange how it appeared just there...’

“It just seems strange how it appeared just there.

“It's almost like someone's put it there, but they haven't because it was sort of buried among the sand and the rocks.

A small crab was also hiding inside the object.

It is not the first time a tusk has been discovered in Kent.

In 2013, two were spotted on the coast in Herne Bay.

They were thought to have belonged to a mammoth – but archaeologists said the tusks were more likely to have belonged to an elephant.

The Ivory Act 2018 was brought about to prevent the illegal poaching of elephants in Africa for their tusks.

You cannot import or export an ivory item to or from the UK for sale or hire unless you can register or certify the item as exempt or complete the necessary import or export customs declarations and paperwork.

Generally, to be exempt, a piece of ivory must have been taken from an elephant before 1975.

The Receiver of Wreck manages reports of salvage and returning property to the rightful owner.

All wreck material recovered in or brought into UK waters must be reported, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant and regardless of value.