The Whale Has Died

[timmystood]

What are you guys talking about, what whale?

A 5ft Bottlenose Whale, the world's second deepest-diving Whale that live's in the Atlantic became dis-oritentated and ended up in the River Thames - A massive river that goes through the centre of London.

No Whale has ever been recorded in the shallow waters of the Thames since records began.

 

[Durbkat]

So did the army kill it by taking it out of the water?

 

[timmystood]

Not sure - it kept getting stranded with the low tide and the army hoisted it onto a barge where it was then being taken back to the sea. It died in transit - tests showed it was a healthy teenage Male so it's most likely caused by the stress of being stuck in the Thames for 2 days and continually getting stranded - poor little fellow (well, not little)

Here

P.S. - I meant 18 ft not 5! )

 

[WILDER]

That upset me knowing his family still waiting for him, pity that some humans are not so caring about there family like whales, so sad.

 

[wuvmybetta]

That's very sad news.

 

[PlecMama]

I can't bare to think of it's family, I am privilaged enough to be somebodys mama and it would get me all tearful if I thought about it to much.

 

[Ptarmigan]

.

 

[fishfishfish]

i dont think so.they dont really use their head.a net would have been better than chasing it with boats

 

[sylvia]

Either way would have stressed the whale out - and you'd need to chase the whale around with the boats to get it caught in the net... It's a great shame - very sad to hear it died (I saw it on the news earlier today). They couldn't have left it in the river though - it would have died. Typicaly, whales that are 'rescued' (or those that end up beached) die because their own weight out of water 'crushes' them. It depends on the size of the whale of course but, as they are mammals, they could hypotheticaly survive out of water for long periods - taking them out of the water, as such, does not kill them - but without the water's support, they cannot support themselves on land. Someone mentioned the river Thames is dead biologicaly (for the most part, likely true) and that it would be nice to have something living in it for a change (I agree) - but what would the whale eat? Anyway, this wasn't an option. The whale would not survive in a (relative to the ocean) small river system with no food and serious tides and, as has been mentioned, most whales travel in family pods and don't know how to lead a solitary existance.

 

[CFC]

Someone mentioned the river Thames is dead biologicaly (for the most part, likely true) and that it would be nice to have something living in it for a change

We're not living in Victorian times any more you know, the River Thames is the cleanest urban water way in England and one of the cleanest (if not the cleanest) urban water way in Western Europe. It has a huge diversity of life with at least 21 species of native fish and god knows how many alien species, some of which are of British record weights, the Thames is far from biologically dead and hasnt been for a very long time.

 

[piper]

i dont think so.they dont really use their head.a net would have been better than chasing it with boats

Leave the rescuers alone, they tried to help the whale, the logics of the rescue made life hard for them. It’s not that easy to move a couple of tons of whale you know.



Sad though that it didn’t make it.

 

[andywg]

A 5ft Bottlenose Whale, the world's second deepest-diving Whale that live's in the Atlantic became dis-oritentated and ended up in the River Thames - A massive river that goes through the centre of London.

No Whale has ever been recorded in the shallow waters of the Thames since records began.

I thought it was 5 metres, not foot. Also one must remember that the recods of life spotted in the thames only began in 1912 though, hardly long history of record keeping.

The Thames was recently found to be THE cleanest urban waterway in Europe (you were right CFC). If you go to the Southend area of the estuary you can find Seahorses.

The reports of sightings of whales in Southend have not been confirmed and so this may have been wishful thinking on the parts of the viewers.

The point about whales crushing themselves out of water would apper true as in most mammels the skeleton suports the weight of the animal. In whales the support is provided by the water and as such the skeleton does not support the weight.

 

[Elliott]

I'm not heartless or mean. But I believe any time this happens and humans try to help it just makes things worse. I wonder how many times this has happened around the world and it either worked or the whale died? Stress will kill quicker than any ailment in wild animals. This whale was in waters that were basically poisonous to it's system (fresh water) and being chased for 2 days is the most stressful thing I would imagine. I had a pet bird that was severly attacked by another bird. It's injuries were taken care of by the vet but the stress of the attack, surgury, recovery were to much.

 

[littleimp]

I don't really understand why it didn't turn round?? Surely the mother must have been calling to it?
They should have let it be & it would've probably found it's own way back.

This seems to be common in other parts of the world though, often see wildlife programmes with this kind of activity, they seem to beach themselves on purpose for some reason.

 

[timmystood]

No, it was very confused and dis-orientated so it wouldn't have found it's way back - and if it was left alone it would have got stranded and died because the water was far too shallow for him...