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Whale dies during rescue mission

Mammal suffers a series of convulsions while being rushed to sea in a barge

LONDON: It captivated onlookers with an unprecedented appearance in the shallow waters of London's River Thames, but the whale spotted swimming past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben died while rescue crews attempted in vain to ferry it to sea.

Swaddled in blankets on a rusting salvage barge, the northern bottlenose — watched by thousands in London and millions worldwide on television — suffered a series of convulsions on Saturday evening as marine experts raced to reach the southern English coast and release the ailing animal.

Thousands of people lined the banks at Albert Bridge in south London to watch the rescue attempt unfold, cheering as marine wildlife experts used a crane to haul the 20 ft whale onto the `Crossness' barge, hoping to speed toward the sea.

Crowds raced to bridges across London as the barge made its way toward open sea, with some spectators leaning over railings and others darting through traffic from one side to the other as the vessel passed underneath.

And some even tried to give the mammal a name, as the whale's internal organs suffered the crippling effect of being out of the water.

"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.

"It was already dehydrated, hadn't been feeding and being out of the water would have, in effect, shrivelled the animal's internal organs," she 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."

"There was a real chance that the rescue attempt could have succeeded, but these type of mammals are very prone to the effects of stress and I'm afraid it all became too much," said Tony Woodley, spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, who led the rescue attempt.

Though no cause of death was immediately available, experts had warned that the whale might not be able to cope with the noise and chaos around it as well as the pressure of its own weight on its internal organs. They also said its lungs and eyes might have been damaged.

Mr. Woodley said that a veterinarian would conduct an autopsy on the whale — AP

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