Category: News and Views
A whale that became stranded in the River Thames has died after a massive rescue attempt to save its life.
Have been watching this event unfold live on TV...
Has anyone else followed this??
a little, but the last I heard was that they were trying to rescue it, so this is news to me, but not unforseen news I must add.
Yes the nothern bottlenose whale, normally found in the deep waters of the north sea, became distressed in the shallow waters of the thames and the rescue services tried to coax it back out to sea.. unfortunately, the young mammal was clearly ill and the close attention it recieved while in the river, may have excaberbated its condition leading to it's death. A post mortem is being carried out to ascertain the cause of death.
Yeah - just found out - thanks Goblin - BUMMER !!
I wasn't following it, afterall, who'd want to spend all day watching a whale in the final stages of its life? but then again ... plenty did for George Best and te pope, anyway the thing should have been shot, stuffed, then put on display in a museum. Either that or if it wasn't infected, then it should have been made into food for some person who would otherwise have gone hungry to eat. It didn't deserve that amount of nterest from people, as I said, it's just a whale, of no significance in life, perhaps of more significance in death potentially.
I think people were so stupid, cheering every time it came up for air. No wonder the poor thing was distressed. Its a pity they didn't just put it out of its misery instead of allowing it to become a media circus
i agree, it's interesting that so many people die day by day, yet we are profoundly affected by a mammle dieing? Does anyone else see the problem here?
I think how much people care about something dying is dependent on how it dies. Blame it on the media, it's their fault for controling the minds of the impressionable majority.
Reasons for whale death announced
The whale in the Thames
Tests on the body of the whale that died after swimming into the Thames on Saturday have found a combination of factors caused her death.
Scientists say the female was suffering from severe dehydration, which means her body had lost a lot of water, and her kidneys were not working well.
They also said she had suffered from some muscle damage.
The northern bottle-nosed whale died on Saturday evening as rescue teams were trying to take her back out to sea.
Click here to tell us your thoughts on the whale
The whale first appeared in the river on Friday morning, and thousands of people crowded the riverbank to see the animal.
It appeared to be confused and distressed, so rescuers lifted her onto a barge so they could move her down the river towards the open sea.
But sadly the animal died at 7pm on Saturday.
Wrong turning
Northern bottle-nosed whales
The whale in the Thames
Scientific name: Hyperoodon ampullatus
Length: 7.3 - 10m
Lives in Arctic and northern Atlantic oceans
Eats squid and fish
Scientists say they think that the whale mistakenly ended up in the North Sea, then headed up the Thames as it was trying to return to the Atlantic Ocean
to eat squid.
It is possible that the animal was unable to feed while in the North Sea, so was very dehydrated by the time it swam up the River Thames.
Scientists are still carrying out tests on the whale's body, and hope to find out more information about the animal.
Click here to see more pictures of the whale
After that, its body will be moved to the Natural History Museum where its skeleton will probably be put on display.
Why was their an inquest into it? I thought it was stupid that everyone was getting all hysterical about a whale, but this is hysteria to the extreme.