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Londoners have 'whale of a time'
21/01/2006 08:15 - (SA)
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| A northern bottlenose whale swims in the River Thames between Albert and Chelsea bridges in London. (Tom Hevezi, AP)
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Bemused Londoners watched as a northern bottle-nosed whale swam past the Houses of Parliament in the River Thames on Friday, the only such sighting of the endangered species since records began nearly a century ago.
The 4.5 to six metre long mammal swam upstream through the heart of the British capital past landmarks like Big Ben and the London Eye ferris wheel as amazed onlookers crowded the riverbanks.
Britain's Saturday newspapers ran the story and accompanying photograph on their front pages. "Save The Whale," The Independent said.
A second whale, believed to be of the same species, was spotted at Southend at the mouth of the Thames estuary, said the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) charity.
The rare whale, which normally lives in deep water, became briefly stranded in the shallows around Chelsea in west London and people waded into the river to try to encourage it back into the channel.
Fears grew that the whale might become stranded again when it headed back upstream as dusk fell, with the tide set to go out again later in the evening.
The whale was followed by a flock of gulls, a helicopter beaming blanket television coverage and boats making sure it did not tangle with any river traffic. Onlookers cheered when it surfaced to spout water from its blowhole.
Whale 'might be injured'
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) told AFP the whale was tiring and police said they thought it might be injured.
The BDMLR's Tony Woodley, monitoring the whale's movements, told AFP the group's members were at the ready if the mammal beached again.
However, they would not intervene as long as the animal was swimming freely.
He said the second whale off the Southend coast could be an adult while the whale in the Thames was a youngster.
"This animal has stranded twice. This is very concerning," he said.
"It might be unwell. It's certainly very stressed and in relatively shallow waters. These are deep-water species, not coastal or estuary ones.
"For an animal such as this to be where it is very unusual and concerning."
Woodley said that an experienced marine mammal vet was on his way to the scene, as was specialist pontoon equipment to possibly refloat the whale should it beach.
Richard Sabin, an expert from the Natural History Museum, said it was the first sighting of a northern bottle-nosed whale on the Thames since records began in 1913.
The whales, normally found in deep offshore waters in the Arctic Ocean and the northern Atlantic, can grow to 10m long and weigh up to eight tonnes.
The population has been severely depleted due to commercial whaling.
A spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police said officers had been alerted just after 9:00 by members of the public watching the whale at Jubilee Bridge over the Thames.
- AFP
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