Post mortem on Thames whale

2006-01-22 16:48

London - A marine mammal expert conducted a post mortem examination on Sunday on the whale that strayed into the River Thames, hoping to discover what caused the animal to become lost.

The Zoological Society of London said it hoped preliminary results would be available on Wednesday and said it was too early to determine what caused the northern bottlenose to die.

Paul Jepson, who has conducted government-funded research into why dolphins and whales become stranded on British shores, was carrying out the examination, the society said.

The whale captivated onlookers as it swam in the shallow waters of the River Thames past the houses of parliament and Big Ben.

It died on Saturday night after rescuers tried to carry it into deeper waters, 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, before it made its way to open sea.

TV audience of 23 million

The RSPCA said an international television audience of about 23 million tuned in to news reports across the world on Saturday to follow the whale's fate.

It was the first sighting of a northern bottlenose in the Thames since records began in 1913.

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."

Northern Atlantic

Northern bottlenoses are normally seen in the deep northern Atlantic, diving deeply and travelling in pods.

When fully grown, they can reach lengths of 8m - the size of a traditional red double-decker London bus.

The sight of the whale swimming past London's famous landmarks bemused thousands of onlookers in the British capital, while its progress was tracked live on news channels across the globe.

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 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."

- AP