January 19, 2019 marks 13 years since a female northern bottlenose whale swam up the River Thames into London (UK) creating a sensation.
The photograph here of the whale swimming past the Houses of Parliament was taken by Marine Connection’s Liz Sandeman and captured the interest of the media being used extensively worldwide to accompany reports and stories on what had become known as the “Thames Whale”.
The public reaction to the juvenile northern bottlenose whale, both in the UK and around the world, was truly overwhelming. The whale stranded on the banks of the Thames on January 20, resulting in the start of a combined rescue effort by colleagues from BDMLR and other organisations, and on January 21 millions of people around the globe followed the rescue journey of the whale via TV news channels, national radio and the internet as she was transported on a barge towards deeper water in the Thames Estuary, with the aim of releasing her back out to sea. As each hour passed, concern for the whale’s health grew as she started to show increasing signs of “poor health”. Sadly, despite tremendous efforts by the rescue crew, the whale died.
It was thought the whale had been fit but probably got lost in the North Sea on its way to feeding grounds in the Atlantic, and had simply taken a wrong turn near the Scottish coast. Necropsy results showed cause of death was due to a combination of issues including dehydration, muscle damage and kidney failure.
For those involved in the rescue effort and others that followed her story, the plight of the Thames whale remains an unforgettable experience.
