Posted on 01/21/2006 3:10:33 PM PST by redgirlinabluestate
LONDON -- The bottlenose whale spotted swimming past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben captivated thousands with its appearance in the River Thames. The death of the ailing animal, wounded and swaddled in blankets, brought a sad end to the saga of London's most unlikely tourist.
Around 3,000 people lined a stretch of the Thames on today, cheering as marine wildlife experts used a crane to haul the 20-foot-long whale onto a rusting salvage barge.
The rescue crew then faced a race against time to reach deeper waters on England's southern coast -- as the whale's internal organs suffered the crippling effects of being out of the water. En route, the mammal suffered a series of convulsions and died.
"It was a brave, valiant, but ultimately tragic effort to get the whale to safety," said Leila Sadler, scientific officer at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
City workers had watched in disbelief Friday as the marine mammal was spotted flailing through the murky river, past some of the city's most famous landmarks. It was the first Northern bottlenose whale spotted in the Thames since records began in 1913.
"The animal suffered a series of convulsions at around 7 p.m. (2 p.m. EST) and died. It was already dehydrated, hadn't been feeding and the being out of the water would have, in effect, shriveled the animal's internal organs," Sadler said.
"It was essential to try to take the whale out to sea on the barge -- but there was always the risk this would happen."
Rescue crews were heading toward Margate, on the southern English coast, where they
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Dang. I was hoping he would have made it.
Poor bloke died before the public had a chance to give him a name. Like "Koko" or "Fifi".
Ahhh, I was afraid of that. Poor thing.
We killed her Jim
"The sea was angry that day my friends.
Like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli."
Cut it up, get the BBQ out and eat it....
Hey, my kids are distraught and you guys jest! Seriously, though, it probably will end up all Bush's fault due to the whales aberrant behavior as a result of global warming! Which we all know is Bush's fault. (sarcasm)
Didn`t help when GWB sent the following to Blair:50 gallons of BBQ beans, one bushel of sliced onions, 25 gallons on BBQ sauce, 50 gallons of cold slaw (add extra vinager and horse radish) 100 flats of cornbread, and one WHALE
One bushel of onions stop there.But could we make the whale into crackling's to go with them?
I mean taste wise.
Tastes like chicken??
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