Question:
A seven-tonne whale has made its way up the Thames to central London, where it is being watched by riverside crowds.
The 16-18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale, which is usually found in deep sea waters, has been seen as far upstream as Chelsea.
A rescue boat has been sent to protect the whale and rescuers have been trying to keep it away from the river banks.
Specialist equipment, including inflatable tubes to re-direct the animal downstream, are being sent.
The whale has come within yards of the banks and has crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding.
Last Updated: Friday, 20 January 2006, 18:17 GMT
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Whale spotted in central London
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A seven-tonne whale has made its way up the Thames to central London, where it is being watched by riverside crowds.
The 16-18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale, which is usually found in deep sea waters, has been seen as far upstream as Chelsea.
A rescue boat has been sent to protect the whale and rescuers have been trying to keep it away from the river banks.
Specialist equipment, including inflatable tubes to re-direct the animal downstream, are being sent.
The whale has come within yards of the banks and has crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding.
The last thing we want to do is stress the animal out
Liz Sandeman
Marine Connection
Watch the whale
Whale in pictures
Vets are remaining on standby and experts have said it does not appear to be ill, but are concerned it will get weaker and may become beached.
Tony Woodley, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, which will be handling the rescue, said the animal's welfare was the main priority.
He said if attempts to re-direct the whale downstream failed, it might be necessary to put it down to prevent from suffering further.
'Breathing normally'
The RNLI say it is the first whale rescue on the Thames. A spokesman said three whales were spotted east of the Thames Barrier on Thursday but only one managed to get upstream.
But at 0830 GMT on Friday, a man on a train called in to say he might have been hallucinating, but he had just seen a whale in the Thames.
Alison Shaw of the Marine and Freshwater Conservation Programme at London Zoo, said the northern bottle-nosed whale was usually found in groups of three to 10.
She told the BBC News website: This is extremely rare in British waters as they are normally found in deep waters in the North Atlantic.
It is about 16-18ft long, so is relatively mature. It is a very long way from home and we don't know why it has ended up here.
The whales usually weigh about seven tonnes, which will complicate any rescue attempt, experts said.
London Aquarium Curator Paul Hale told the BBC: Getting that to do anything it doesn't want to do is going to be extremely difficult.
This is a very active swimming animal and it's not going to go anywhere it doesn't want to go so we have to persuade it to swim back out.
Liz Sandeman, a medic of the Marine Connection, a whale and dolphin protection charity, accompanied the RNLI to examine the animal.
She feared it might be in danger from other boats, or be frightened by the noise.
The last thing we want to do is stress the animal out, she said.
Over the years dolphins and seals have been spotted in the Thames.
Sperm whales have been seen in the Thames Estuary and porpoises have feasted on fish near Vauxhall Bridge, in central London.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...don/4631396.stm
Answer:
hopefully it can get out
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didnt this happen in germany too just recently? uhh...is this a sign? lol
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didnt this happen in germany too just recently? uhh...is this a sign? lol
WHALES ARE GOING TO ATTACK US ALL!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mellow.gif)
jk
wow that's some sight! i hope the whale can go back to the sea, where it belongs.
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Poor whale, hope it got out safely with the other whales.
If I saw that whale in real life I would being crying.
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Update: The whale died
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update:
WHALE STEAKS FOR EVERYONE.
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I want some Whale & Chips!
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Whale Necropsy Results Expected Soon
Sunday, January 22, 2006
LONDON — A marine mammal expert conducted a necropsy Sunday on the whale that wandered into the River Thames, hoping to determine what caused the 20-foot-long animal to veer off course and splash through central London before dying during Saturday's rescue attempt.
The Zoological Society of London said it hoped preliminary results on what killed the Northern bottlenose whale would be available Wednesday. Paul Jepson, who has conducted government-funded research into why dolphins and whales strand themselves on British shores, was performing the examination, the society said.
The whale captivated onlookers as it swam in the shallow, murky waters of the River Thames past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. It died Saturday night after rescuers tried to carry it into deeper waters of the North Sea, swaddled in blankets on a rusting salvage barge.
Thousands of onlookers had lined the banks of the river and jostled for space on bridges to watch the whale being lifted by crane into the barge. The drama was broadcast live around the world.
Earlier, the whale twice tried to beach itself. Experts said the whale died Saturday after suffering convulsions and struggling with the effects of being out of the water.
It was the first sighting of a Northern bottlenose in the Thames since records began in 1913.
The Zoological Society said Jepson would look for signs of damage to the whale's skin before sending blubber samples for analysis. He would then examine the whale's internal organs and the echo response areas of the brain, which may reveal why the mammal became lost.
The whale was about 40 miles from the mouth of the Thames on the North Sea.
Tony Woodley, a director of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, defended the attempt to move the whale to deeper waters.
We believe that if the whale would have been left how it was then it would have just slowly died and we don't think that was the acceptable option to take, said Woodley, whose group led the rescue effort. We always knew that it was going to be risky. We did everything that we could and I am afraid that this time it was not a success.
The Northern bottlenose whale can reach nearly 30 feet in length -- longer than a traditional red double-decker London bus -- and weigh nearly 8 tons.
The whales are known as curious animals, readily approaching boats and normally traveling in groups, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society's Web site. When sick, old or injured, whales often get disoriented and swim away from their pod.
The sight of the whale swimming past London's famous landmarks bemused thousands of onlookers in the British capital. Witnesses reported seeing a second whale in a different section of the Thames on Friday.
Scientists have said fluctuating ocean temperatures, predators, lack of food and even sonar from ships can send whales astray into potentially dangerous waters.
Woodley said it was too early to say what caused the whale to become lost, and he dismissed as speculation suggestions the mammal may have been disoriented because of sonar signals from navy ships in the North Sea.
It is generally accepted that the animal was lost, being away from its normal environment of the deep sea Atlantic, he said. But until the post-mortem is completed we can't tell if it had major internal problems or not.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182433,00.html
