Large whale spotted in central London

[LiberatedChick]

What's thought to be a pilot whale has been spotted swimming in the Thames in central London..near the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

It's thought the whale swam up early this morning and the RNLI and Marine Connection have been out on the river to check the whales condition.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm

 

[Thirst_For_Knowledge]

weird

 

[Selznak]

Neat. I hope the whale makes it's way back down the river.

 

[LiberatedChick]

They're now describing it as a 17ft bottle-nosed whale. Sky news have been saying there's reports of another whale being seen in Southend on Sea.

The tide is on it's way out now so hopefully it'll find it's way back out to sea.

 

[meebs]

i just hope it gets out though and go back to sea

(nothing wrong with the whale doing a bit of site seeing )

 

[heron]

I heard a whale in an inlet once, late at night. I walked outside to listen to it, nearly half an hour. In the morning everyone said I was crazy, that whales don't come close to shore. Thanks for posting this!

 

[LiberatedChick]

He's still in the river, even further upstream now and attempts to get him to turn round have so far failed. Apparently, he's coming up to breathe a lot which shows he's distressed possibly injured. It doesn't look good

 

[InnerPhyre]

Poor fella. Hope he's ok.

 

[k]

I've heard London fish was really good, but couldn't they have just ordered out?

 

[cavymom]

I wonder if his group/pod shunned him because he is sick, they are abserving this whale and say he has tremors/spasms/seems it's health is compromised. Usually healthy animals will instinctively push away sick animals. Could also be possible he is sick from boat polution and too much battered fish 'n' chips.

 

[Gramaic]

Hope the whale well be okay. Whales are such beautiful creatures!

 

[meebs]

I heard a whale in an inlet once, late at night. I walked outside to listen to it, nearly half an hour. In the morning everyone said I was crazy, that whales don't come close to shore. Thanks for posting this!

You can rest knowing your dignity is intact

 

[meebs]

Well, it was a whale of a day!

 

[meebs]

..

 

[LiberatedChick]

He's still there. Last night there was a report that he was seen downstream and heading towards the sea. Unfortunately, that's not the case and he's still around the Albert bridge in Chelsea.

Low tide is later today and they think he may get beached....though they now say that would be a good thing as they can then check him over and hopefully use a floating crane and inflatable booms to rescue him.

 

[LouTheWicked]

Poor thing, I hope they can help get him back to the sea...

 

[LiberatedChick]

They're moving him now using two boats and inflatable pontoons.

 

[InnerPhyre]

I'm glad they are helping him. It always makes me feel good to see people caring enough about an animal to do something to help. We have turtles all over the place down here and the poor things get confused and walk out into the road and you frequently see people get out of their cars and stop traffic to rescue the them. I picked up one and brought him to the other side of the road once, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I did he started walking back across the road the other way

 

[LiberatedChick]

Despite the attempt to rescue him, the whale has died

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4635874.stm

 

[puppy]

it is a sad outcome but at least the whale is no longer suffering