River Thames whale

Whale being rescued near Battersea Bridge

Crowds watching the rescue operation

Crowds line Battersea Bridge watching the rescue

Rescue Commences at 12 noon

Rescuers attempt to calm the whale whilst placing the yellow undersheet underneath the whale. John Hyde, January 21 2006 12.15pm

The River Thames whale was a juvenile Northern Bottlenose whale which was discovered swimming in the River Thames in Central London on Friday 20 January 2006. According to the BBC, it was 5 metres long and weighed about four tonnes. The whale appeared to have become lost, as its normal habitat would have been around the coasts of the far north of Scotland and Ireland, and in the seas around the Arctic Ocean. It was the first time the species had been seen in the Thames since records began in 1913. It died after suffering from convulsions as it was being rescued shortly after 7pm on 21 January 2006.

20 January

At 0830 GMT on Friday 20 January, a man on a train called the authorities to say that he believed he had been hallucinating, as he thought he had just spotted a whale swimming in the River Thames. Throughout the morning, more and more reports of seeing a whale were coming in, confirmed when TV cameras captured the bottlenose whale on tape. Filled with excitement, many Londoners came out on to the streets to see this amazing sight.

However, the whale beached itself several times during the day as the tide went out. Members of the public went onto the foreshore to encourage the whale back into deeper water. Concern began to grow for the animal; bottlenose whales are used to swimming in seas up to 700 metres deep, but the Thames is only several metres deep. Blood was also visible - possibly due to a collision between the whale and a boat.

As night approached, there were signs that it may have been swimming with the current out of London towards the sea: a confirmed sighting by a BBC cameraman at 2100 GMT placed the whale in Greenwich. However there were no further official sightings until 0110 GMT the following morning in Battersea, after the tide had changed.

21 January

There was fear early in the day that the whale could have perished, as it had not been seen for a significant amount of time, however it was spotted by a port authority boat at 09:25 GMT near to Albert Bridge. At about midday the whale once again beached itself. The British Divers Marine Life Rescue organisation decided it was time to act and led efforts to rescue the whale, with significant help from the Port of London Authority. They stepped in and captured the whale, covered its eyes to prevent it from panicking, and examined its health.

After two hours, the whale was slowly and gently lifted onto a barge by a crane near Battersea Bridge. By this stage there were thousands of people watching the situation develop on the banks of the river, and the images were seen across the world. The excitement of the previous day had disappeared, there was now serious concern that the whale would be unable to survive for much longer. As the barge rushed along the Thames towards the sea news channels provided non-stop coverage of the journey. It reached the Thames Barrier at approximately 5pm GMT. Later, despite the darkness, it was reported crowds were lining the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge to catch a glimpse of the barge.

As each hour passed, there was growing concern for the whale's health, it was said to be taking a turn for the worse due to being out of the water. Plans to release it into the Atlantic ocean were shelved (the rescue team having previously put out a public appeal for a suitable boat); instead it was to be released off the Kent coast near Margate at Shivering Sands at around 21:00-21:30 GMT. All this time, the BDMLR were saying the final decision would be taken by a vet on board, who would decide whether to release or euthanize the whale. Later the mammal was described as being "distressed", breathing heavily and developing muscle problems.

At 19:08 GMT on 21 January it was confirmed the whale had died some minutes before, after suffering from convulsions.

Reason for reaching London

It is still unknown why the whale entered the River Thames. One of the suspected causes is because of sonar emissions from large ships, which have been known to cause marine mammal beachings in the past. The ships could have confused the whale's navigation, which caused it to head much further south than its usual waters. Alternatively, it could have been seriously ill, and come to shallow waters to avoid drowning in case of exhaustion. Another theory is that the whale simply followed a shoal of fish too far inland.

Post Mortem

It was announced that vet Paul Jepson would carry out an immediate post mortem on the whale - expected to take several days - on behalf of the Zoological Society of London.

Impact

Many people believe this incident increased the public profile of whales and opposition to the whaling industry. Many whale experts that were interviewed on Sky News believed this whale will leave a legacy, and it will have helped whales across the planet. They also took note of the fact that the Thames Whale was seen around the Palace of Westminster, the British seat of government.

Other whales

Throughout the two days that the whale was in the Thames waters, there were unconfirmed sightings of a second whale near the Thames Barrier and in Southend-on-Sea. On 21 January, whale song was reportedly heard around the Thames Estuary, which many believed could have been the whale's mother. The body of a small marine mammal - initially thought to be another whale then later confirmed as a porpoise - was discovered upstream at Putney the same day. This may increase the likelihood that the Thames Whale found itself stranded due to sonar, as it seemed to affect other sea mammals.

It was noted that another whale had been washed up in Germany, and a report in the the days before the sighting of some whales "appearing lost" in Northern Scotland. Additionally, other large sea mammals had been stricken in January along the English Coast. These observations may have been no more than "above average interest in sea life by people" as a result of the Thames whale.

Nicknames

Various nicknames included:

• "Pete the Pilot" . Named after Pete Burns, since the gender of the whale is not known; the "pilot" arose from the mistaken belief that it was a pilot whale.
• "Prince of Whales", as it was called by The Times, referring to Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales
• "Gonzo"
• "The Battersea Bottlenose"
• "Willy the Whale" . Perennial favourite whale name, as seen in the film Free Willy.
• "Willzyx" named after the whale in the South Park episode, Free Willzyx, in which went a whale went missing in similar circumstances.
• "James Whale" . The name of a popular radio presenter on Talksport.
• "Wally", as it was called by The Sun.
• "Westminster Whale" , as it was seen near the Houses of Parliament.
• "Celebrity Big Blubber" , a pun on the title of Celebrity Big Brother (featuring Pete Burns, amongst others).

External links

• "Whale spotted in central London" (BBC news story)
• "Thames whale to be moved by barge" (BBC news story)
• "The Thames Whale Dies" (Sky News story)
• "Lost whale dies after rescue bid" (BBC news story)
• "Revived river boasts seals, sea horses and one piranha" (The Independent)
• "London whale dies a lonely death" (The Observer)
• "How early hope turned to despair at dusk" (The Observer)
• "A whale which touched London" (The Observer - leader column)
• "The whale they couldn't save" (The Sunday Times)
• "London's whale history: We weren’t always quite so sentimental" (The Sunday Times)
• "Lewis PR Whale Watch" (blog)
• "Matt cartoon" (The Daily Telegraph)