Fears for whale in River Thames

LONDON, England -- Fears are growing among marine experts after what is believed to be a Northern Bottle-nosed Whale was spotted swimming in the River Thames in the heart of London.

One whale rescuer, Tony Martin, said that such whales were normally only found in very deep water and would require a specialist rescue operation. "This is a unique experience. Northern Bottle-nosed Whales are normally only found in very deep water so the fact it's here probably means it's ill. This is going to take a number of boats and organization to coax it back into deeper water," Martin told Sky News on Friday. "This is not going to be an easy job."

Another expert from the Natural History Museum, Richard Sabin, told the Press Association it was the first sighting of the species in the Thames since records began in 1913, he said.
Police boats tracked the whale, which is between 5 and 8 meters (15 to 24 feet) in length, as it cautiously circled near the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, moving gradually upstream, and television news helicopters hovered above.

A second whale was also spotted further east, nearer the mouth of the river, in Southend, TV news stations reported.

In central London, three men waded into the river when the whale beached near the landmark Battersea Power Station. They splashed the water to make it swim away and punched the air in celebration as it moved off. Blood appeared to be coming from its body.
Peter Evans of the Sea Watch foundation said the creature was either sick, had become disorientated or had simply got lost chasing fish. "It can dive to 3,000 metres and stay submerged for an hour. It will only come into such shallow waters if it is ill. But in doing so it is committing suicide."

"Sighting of things like Porpoises in the estuary have become more frequent in the past five years -- indicating that fish have become more abundant which in turn shows how much cleaner the river is than it used to be," he told Reuters.....

Story continues at www.cnn.com

Kind of a sad story here out of London. Although, it made me wonder if there has ever been a sightings of a whale in the Detroit River? My guess would be no, probably because it would never make it past Lake Erie.