River Thames whale

Whale being rescued near Battersea Bridge

Crowds watching the rescue operation

Crowds line Battersea Bridge watching the rescue

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 m long and weighed about 7 tonnes. It 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 died after suffering from convulsions as it was being rescued shortly after 7pm on 21 January 2006.

20th January

At 0830 GMT on Friday the 20th of January, a man on a train called 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 film. Many people on the streets of London came out to see this amazing site, filled with excitement.

However, the whale beached itself several times during the day as the tide went out. Members of the public went onto the foreshore to scare the whale off, so it would return to the water. Concern began to grow for the animal, as bottlenose whales are used to swimming in seas up to 700 metres deep, but at its deepest, the Thames was 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.

21st 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 worry that the whale would not be able to survive for much longer. The barge rushed along the Thames towards the sea, with news channels providing 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 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 could decide to euthanase the whale. Later the mammal was described as being "distressed" and breathing heavily.

At 19:08 GMT on January 21 official reports confirmed that whale had the Thames died after suffering from convulsions.

Cause for reaching London

As of 7:40 GMT, it was still unknown why exactly the whale had found itself inside the River Thames. One of the suspected causes is due to sonar emmited 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 lead it to head much further south than it's usual waters. Another reason could have been that it was already seriously ill, and that it came to the shallow waters, to avoid it from drowning in case of exhaustion. One other theory is that the whale simply followed a shoal of fish too far inland.

Impact

Many people now believe that this whale has increased the profile of whales to the public, and the 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 several unconfirmed reports of a second whale. On 21 January, there were reports of hearing whale song around the Thames Estuary, which many believed could have been the Thames whale's mother. The body of a small marine mammal was discovered on the banks of the Thames on 21 January, early thoughts were that it could have been another young Bottlenose whale, but it is now believed to have been a porpoise. If it was indeed a porpoise, it may increase the likelihood that the Thames Whale found itself stranded due to sonar, as it seemed to affect other sea mammals.

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.
• "Gonzo"
• "The Battersea Bottlenose"
• "Willy the Whale". Perennial favourite whale name, as seen in the film Free Willy.

External links

• London Times news story
• "Whale spotted in central London" (BBC news story)
• "Thames whale to be moved by barge" (BBC news story)
• "Fears for health of Thames whale" (BBC news story)
• "The Thames Whale Dies" (Sky News story)
• "Lost whale dies after rescue bid" (BBC news story)