Whale in the Thames

[loobie]

Check out the news of the whale that's swimming in the Thames at the moment. Also has anyone on here actually seen it down there? Looks amazing - shame I'm stuck at work!!

[Drusilla]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

If you go to this site, they have a film of it. What an amazing and beautiful event.

[jrtv]

It's a mistake, have another look, it's John Prescott having a early morning dip !

[uosdwiSjewoH]

This really is so, so appropriate. (Woo Hoo! Another big word!)

All that air blowing off as it goes past the Commons! Doh!

[Loosehead]

No it's Prescots lunch! Now where's that ton of Chips?

[shaneystar2]

It's amazing. All I hope is that the poor thing can get out to sea again. I think it must be terribly confused in such a busy place and all the launches and so on around can't help.It's a newsworthy event for us but I dread to think how the poor thing feels when it has spent most of it's life in the oceans free of media attention.I just hope it doesn't beach and die.

[uosdwiSjewoH]

According to the radio, an expert on one of the launches near the whale says it is quite old and is badly injured with blood coming from it's body. He couldn't see precisely where it's injured but he says there is a away to tell the age by looking at the dorsal fin. At one point he was within 20ft of it so had quite a good look.

[ianess]

The poor animal is lost, hungry,in a state of distress, injured and is probably going to die.
It's not a bl**dy performing seal in a circus act. Treat the unfortunate creature with a bit of respect and if it can't be helped to survive then it should be humanely put out of its misery.
Sky News must really be desperate to give this blanket coverage.

[Robert G]

Cannot this whale be tempted back downstream, and out towards the sea by playing a recording of the sounds emitted by another whale (or other whales), the underwater loudspeaker being towed along some miles downstream?

[paljor65]

Am I alone in thinking that instead of wringing our hands and going "Oh poor thing", we should instead be doing our damnest to extricate the animal from its predicament as swiftly, calmly and safely as humanly possible?

[uosdwiSjewoH]

Just to contradict my previous answer, Ch4 News now say the whale is quite young, as it doesn't have any barnacles on it's head. Who do you beleive? Also, the reporter said the whale was now distressed. How do they know this? Why would it be in distress? They swim for thousands of miles, so a jaunt up the Thames wouldn't do that to it.

[Robert G]

Apparently a whale is thought to be in distress when it spends more than the usual amount of time swimming on the surface.

[AceRimmer]

Like the Whale, i'd be distressed to find myself in London. What a place to be if you are trying to avoid media attention!

On the plus side, nice to see the Thames clean again.