Young Whale Trapped in London's Thames River Euthanized: We're 'Trying to Ease Any Suffering'
A young minke whale that found itself trapped in London's Thames River on Sunday has been euthanized after the animal's health and rescuers' attempts to save the creature failed.
According to the Associated Press, the 13-foot whale was first spotted stranded in the river on Sunday night. The minke whale was spotted hundreds of miles away from where the Thames opens into the North Sea, a body of water home to numerous minke whales.
"This animal is very, very lost," Port of London Authority spokesman Martin Garside said after the animal was found. "It's like seeing a camel at the North Pole."
The Port of London Authority, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), the London Fire Brigade, and the local police all worked together to rescue the whale since it seemed unlikely the animal would make it back to the ocean alone.
The rescue crews were able to free the whale from where it was stuck in the Thames early on Monday, but, unfortunately, the animal slipped back into the water while it was being moved for health checks.
Yui Mok/Press Association via AP
Yui Mok/Press Association via AP
As rescuers worked to recapture the whale, it became clear to experts with the British Divers Marine Life Rescue that the animal's health had deteriorated to the point where the whale would have difficulty surviving even if rescuers returned the animal to the ocean.
"They're going to put the whale to sleep. It's suffering quite badly," Julia Cable, a national coordinator for BDMLR, told Reuters ahead of the animal's euthanization.
Press Association via AP
"We're just trying to ease any suffering," she added, noting the whale would be given an overdose of anesthetic and would only feel the prick of the needle before passing.
The RNLI later confirmed to Reuters that the whale was euthanized on Monday evening in the U.K.
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It is unclear how the whale ended so far up the Thames, but Cable said the animal was likely still "maternally dependent" and would've had struggled to survive without its mother.
Danny Groves of Whale and Dolphin Conservation told Reuters that a boat strike, illness, or injury could be behind the late whale's appearance in the Thames.
Yui Mok/Press Association via AP
"Many whales and dolphins get into difficulty because they may have been struck by a vessel at sea, injured in fishing nets, driven off course by loud underwater noise from seismic surveys for oil or gas, or loud underwater sonar from military exercises," he said.
Minke whales are the smallest members of the baleen or "great" whale family, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), and can grow to be 35 feet long. The marine mammal has an average lifespan of 50 years and is said to have a stable population, though commercial whaling practices have reduced the species' numbers.
