Whale Swimming in London Lost, Likely Sick

By ERIKA PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

A lost and likely sick whale swam up the River Thames past Parliament and Big Ben in central London on Friday, attracting huge crowds and a police boat escort before nearly beaching itself on the shallow riverbank.

The Northern bottlenose whale appeared to be about 20 feet long, witnesses said. The whale, which usually is found in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, was about 40 miles from the mouth of the Thames on the North Sea.

Tom Howard-Vyne said he saw the marine mammal swim under Westminster Bridge near Big Ben.

"I saw it blow. It was a spout of water which sparkled in the air," he said. "It was an amazing sight."

TV stations followed the marine mammal with live coverage as it wandered into shallow water near the muddy banks of the tidal waterway. The whale appeared to get stuck several times, and officials wearing yellow jackets could be seen running up and down the shoreline at low tide trying to push it back into deeper water.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue group said it would help the whale if it became stranded. A police boat accompanied the whale, apparently to shield it from other ships in the river.

Richard Sabian, a zoologist at the Natural History Museum in London, said such whales rarely swim in the nearby English Channel, and this was the first sighting of one in the River Thames since the museum began recording them in 1913.

A minke whale was seen in the Thames about six years ago, but not as far downstream, the museum said.

"The fact that it is swimming upstream is not a good sign," said Alison Shaw, a manager of the Zoological Society of London, Marine & Freshwater Conservation Program. "The whale must be confused or ill."

The Northern bottlenose whale is found in the North Atlantic and can reach nearly 30 feet in length and weigh nearly 8 tons.

They are known as curious animals, readily approaching boats and normally traveling in groups, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's Web site.

"The whale's chances are not particularly good," Sabian said. "We hope it will swim back to sea."

Mark Simmonds, director of the Science, Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society, said the whale may be debilitated.

"When whales turned up in strange places before, they have been old, sick or wounded," Simmonds said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060120/ap_on_fe_st/britain_whale



Anyone of our British friends here actually get to see this?

This is both sad and cool at the same time.

Didn't we have a beluga whale in Philly last year?

Ah, yes we did!

http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/vie ... hp?t=13721

For those who didn't get a chance to see this lost and sick creature, here's a picture:

Sky News gave pretty much blanket coverage to thise yesterday. The chances of it surviving aren't good, it would seem.

ha! i probably should have updated that as the story progressed. oh well. he did make it out of here ok.

apparently, the poor whale died:

LONDON (Jan. 21) - The whale that was trapped in the River Thames died Saturday as rescue workers attempted to take it out to sea for release, Britain's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

The northern bottlenose suffered a series of convulsions at 7 p.m and had been struggling with the effects of being out of the water as it was ferried on a barge toward the Thames Estuary, officials said.

Swaddled in blankets on the rusting salvage barge, the mammals - watched by thousands in London as it spent two days swimming up the River Thames past some of the capital's most famous landmarks - had shown signs of increasing stress and stiffening muscles, an indicator it was in serious difficulty.

"We understand from the vet onboard the salvage vessel that the whale suffered a series of convulsions at around 7 p.m. (1900 GMT) and died," said Katy Geary, a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Earlier, the whale was hoisted out of the river and onto the vessel to be sped toward the ocean.

A crowd of 3,000 people at Albert Bridge in south London had cheered and applauded as the whale was tethered to a sling and lifted by a crane onto the "Crossness" barge.

The RSPCA said an international television audience of 23 million had tuned in to news reports across the world Saturday to follow the fate of the whale, the first of its type seen in the Thames since records began in 1913.

Shit

That's really sad.

I was listening to Low when I read this and it almost made me cry.

x 100

so the fact that this continues to happen, does that mean whales are not evolving?

In this case, it's likely due to decreased pollution in the Thames leading to increased fish populations and a hungry whale.

As for why whales beach themselves in general, it remains quite a mystery.

Actually, he's been here since 1999.

Someone told me about the whale (He was nicknamed Pete) dying last night while I was out and it broke my heart. Terrible news.

Wouldn't the fresh water be bad for the whales?

Yes, it eventually causes the skin to blister. That's why they put it on the barge.

they can stay in fresh water for a couple weeks, but after that it will start to take a toll on their skin and health. a lot of whales go to fresh water to shed their dead skin, but that usually only takes a couple days.

mmm...sushi

Not to be too insensitive, but any whale that ventured that far up river was obviously sick to begin with. If he had lived it would have been a miracle, so I have trouble understanding how all these people could really be this upset.