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LONDON (Reuters) - A small whale was spotted in the River Thames in central London on Friday, a rare event which drew large crowds of sightseers.

A whale expert from the Natural History Museum said it was a Northern Bottle-nosed Whale. Witnesses said it was between 5 and 8 metres in length.

"The Natural History Museum has been recording strandings since 1913 and this is the first record of this

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species for the Thames," the expert, Richard Sabin told Reuters.
Peter Evans of the Sea Watch foundation said the creature could be so far up the river either because it was sick and had become disorientated or had simply got lost chasing fish.

"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.

Police boats tracked the animal as it cautiously circled, moving gradually upstream, and television cameras carried the images live.

You been drinking in work hours again Ade?
;-) R

Did it bollocks.

I don't think they say if it's a male or female whale, so I don't know about it's bollocks or lack of.

Link: BBC News: Whale!

"But at 0830 GMT on Friday, a man on a train called in to say he might have been hallucinating, but he had just seen a whale in the Thames."

Classic!

Maybe it's me who needs a drink....

It's been live on the sky channels for hours.  Like a journo's feeding frenzy, down there.  There's one layer of gulls hoping for an easy snack when the poor bugger gives up the ghost and gets beached, and another layer of paps with levitation suits hoping for a good shot of the same.

True Fact:  In a very old law that has never been repealed, any whale that washes-up on an English shore MUST be offered to the royal household to "furnish the queen's wardrobe with whalebone" before anyone else gets dibs.

Liz gets all the best stuff...whales,swan,jewels... I wonder if she gets Charlie's Duchy Jams cheap too?

It's only a matter of time before a Japanese whaling fleet arrives, closely followed by Greenpeace and the French secret service.

It's the start of World War III, I tell you.

(Shut up, Pat:  I know it's already begun!)

It's in the Thames and *still* it lives?
Witchcraft!

Actually, I've just turned over to the news channels, and all joking aside - that water is bloody pigging.  it just seems to be different shades of green and brown.
Poor bugger.

Pretty bizarre - They reckon the poor thing might have been coming into die. Certainly picked an akward spot for it...

Link: '... certain problems in terms of safety...'

stupid whale.

How long before they unzip the whale suit to find the latest Fathers For Justice protestor?

ADE

I suspect Blair through it in to deflect from the Education row(s)

What sad news this evening - he was 'The People's Seafaring Mammal'.

Elton must already have his rhyming dictionary out.

ADE

am i going to hell cos i don't care that much?

i don't think we are

"am i going to hell cos i don't care that much?"

Yes, where's your sense of patriotism? Britain has the best stranded whales!

ADE

It's dead.

Move on...

I remember people saying that about Doctor Who and you all saw what happened with that.

Well, you didn't but we did.

Maybe it was sent to tell us something?

By who? Aquaman?

Hah! As if aquaman would send his whale buddy up the stinky Thames to die in 20% water 80% sewage.

I mean?

I dreamt that the BBC were going to televise a memorial service for the whale, and someone would release a single of a song from that service.

Must stop eating cheese before going to bed.

- Steve

Everyone having a go at Hyperdrive obviously didn't enjoy the whale people joke, at the end of the last episode(?).It was funny in Finding Nemo and its funny there too. :)

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile what, Arthur?  

Link: Meanwhile... THIS!

Absolute..munch.. claptrap..gulmph..pass the soy sauce.

People who spent hours trying to help the whale were given parking tickets.  Gotta love it.

Link: That'll teach you

:: "The Maritime Coastguard Agency said the whale was not its responsibility because it died on a barge rather than land."

Or "fuck off", in English.

I got in trouble for making the whale say "pathetic earthlings, f**k off and let me die!" on the cover on my flatmate evening standard.

you can tell that i've been spend too much time with militant vegan's when all i can think of some guff about hiarchical attitudes to animals blah blah blah

Can't they sell the whale to some Japanese restaurant to pay for the parking tickets?

Well, there is the point that whale's tend to die when you remove them from the water because their skeletal structure can't cope with their weight...which would lead to the headline (in the Daily Siriun) of:

"Ignorant Humans Murder Sightseeing Whale!"

and this quote:

"Earth still a great tourist destination despite the humans"
 - Ambassador OOooHHohhhhooooHhhhooooHHOO

5 pages on this in the Sunday Mirror yesterday, including the cover!!!

Did anyone else think there was more than touch of this about this story?


And the celebrities have got together and released a charity record 'Sending Our Love to that Whale'

Link: http://www.kikman.de/Logos-Signs/SI-Kent.gif

Alas poor Wally. Even though the media gave hime a cute name I couldnt care less.

5 pages!!!!!

Cant post this pictures, but heres a link

Link: Whale

Good point - what is RSS?

It's Web 2.0!

Link: Whale 'vomit' sparks cash bonanza