A beach was cordoned off while disposal crews removed a headless creature washed ashore.
Beachgoer Fiona Hall spotted the animal in Littlehampton, opposite Harbour Park, while out for a walk yesterday morning.
She said it "looked a bit like a sheep".
Lee Willson also spotted the creature. He reported it to the coastguard at around 7am yesterday.
By the afternoon, the beach was cordoned off around the animal to allow crews to remove it. It is now believed that it was a deer.
Writing on Facebook, Julie Bruce said: " It’s a deer. My partner was down there when the waste disposal man had come to pick it up. It had been cordoned off to the public by then.
"He said apparently it happens quite a lot. They fall into the river further upstream and get washed out to sea.
"He was waiting for protective clothing and the right waste disposal van to pick it up. No chucking it on the back of a lorry these days."
Robert Ayling believes he spotted the same creature in the River Arun near Arundel the day before it washed up on the beach.
Sea creatures often wash up on Sussex beaches, but seeing land mammals like this is more rare.
Most recently, a large rodent called a coypu washed up on Hove beach in November last year.
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