Adapted from articles on www.news.bbc.co.uk, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail        20 January to 13 February 2006

A whale that became stranded in the River Thames died after a massive rescue attempt to save its life.

The 18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale was first spotted in the river on Friday and had come as far upstream as Chelsea. Rescuers began an attempt to save it on Saturday morning. But sadly the whale died at about 1900 GMT on Saturday as rescuers transported it on a barge towards deeper water in the Thames Estuary, having been placed in a special pontoon.

The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) led the rescue operation. A vet gave the whale injections and antibiotics in case of any infection and took blood samples.

When the whale's condition began to seriously deteriorate, it became clear that the animal was not going to make it and the team decided to euthanise it. However, while they were preparing the lethal injection it began to convulse and then died. Just to make sure it was dead and to ensure its suffering had ended, it was given the lethal injection.

Earlier, close to Battersea Bridge, thousands of onlookers had applauded as rescuers placed the whale on to a pontoon to move it from shallow water. It was winched on to the Port of London Authority barge where it was laid on an inflatable raft functioning as a "makeshift whale mattress".

It was the first sighting of the endangered species in the Thames since records began nearly a century ago.

A spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said: "Whales around the world face deadly threats - from whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland, pollution and habitat destruction, and increased noise in the ocean. "We hope the whale which visited the UK Houses of Parliament can act as ambassador for all whales, and that its death won't be in vain."

Vets spent six hours carrying out an autopsy on the whale's body and discovered that the whale was a female. Only two other autopsies have ever been performed on this species because it is so rare.

Some experts say that it could have been ships' sonar or explosions resulting from Ministry of Defence testing of munitions that made the animal lose its bearings. Only two other autopsies have ever been performed on this species because it is so rare.

Whales navigate by ultra-sound. 37 strandings of Whales off the coast of North Carolina in 2005 were attributed to the use of sonar by navel vessels. Some studies have suggested that sonar can cause confusion in whales and bleeding to their ears. It can apparently also force them to the surface too quickly, leading to bubbles in the blood (the same decompression sickness that can occur in divers who surface to rapidly).

The Royal Navy is currently testing the powerful Sonar 2087. It has been installed on two frigates: HMS Westminster and HMS Northumberland, with plans to fit it on four more by 2007. A single ping can travel for hundreds if not thousands of miles.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: 'Sonar 2087 is a vital defence capability much needed by the Royal Navy to detect increasingly stealthy submarines. The MoD has developed robust operating procedures, utilising the best available scientific advice to reduce any impact the use of sonar might have. Independent mammal observers have monitored Navy trials and results analysed to date have shown no noticeable adverse impacts on marine life'.

Millions of people followed the progress of the stranded whale as the news of its plight flashed around the world. However, among the whaling nations Norway and Japan, coverage of the London visitor was conspicuous by its absence.

The whale's plight prompted well-wishers to donate thousands of pounds towards BDMLR's costs.

We weren't always quite so sentimental

The rescue operation mounted for the Thames whale - and the worldwide sympathy it aroused - highlights a remarkable change of sentiment towards the creatures since the last time such a large one was seen in the Thames in 1961 and was left to die. London in the 17th century had a flourishing whaling industry that killed tens of thousands of animals a year simply to extract their oil for lighting. Barrels of whale oil were placed around the streets and lit each night, winning the city a reputation as one of the best lit in Europe. Fleets were sent to Greenland, the South Atlantic and the Pacific: killing whales brought untold wealth back to the city.

One of the earliest sightings was in 1240 when chroniclers recorded that "a beast of prodigious size" had swum under London Bridge. The reaction of the populace was to chase it upstream and harpoon it to death. A similar thing was reported in 1658.

Such records suggest that whales used to appear in the Thames reasonably often in the days before industrial whaling decimated their populations. Nowadays such visits are a rarity.

The BDMLR ( British Divers Marine Life Rescue )

The BDMLR is a small group of volunteers that came into existence after an epidemic of seal distemper hit seal colonies in the Wash, off East Anglia, 18 years ago. Since then, the charity has quietly got on with the business of saving stranded whales, dolphins and other creatures off Britain's coasts. The group's founder Alan Knight, also an entrepreneur, is also involved with rescuing bears in India.

The BDMLR has now built a network of 3,000 volunteer divers, boat handlers and other experts. Their website is  www.bdmlr.org.uk .

Some more facts on Whales

• Whales are mammals.
• Blue whales are the biggest ceatures that have ever existed. The largest specimen ever found was 94ft long and weighed 174 tons.
• The heart of a blue whale is the size of a Volkswagon Beetle car.
• Their blood vessels are so large that a small child could swim up them.
• The bottlenose whale is a relativley small species of whale, typically reaching about 30 ft long.

IACMST report

A report by the Inter-agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology (IACMST) recommends that the UK Government commission research into the effect of sound in the oceans on marine mammals. It says mammals are affected by many sounds, including sonar, oil exploration and shipping.

"There are many sources of sound in the sea, including seismic surveys for hydrocarbons prospecting, shipping, offshore wind farms, military sonars and scientific research," said Professor Peter Liss from the University of East Anglia who chaired the report committee. "

The new report identifies 13 cases of strandings by whales and dolphins which appear to have been linked to specific sources of noise; most of those sources involved naval vessels.

Post-mortem evidence gathered after a number of whales beached themselves during military exercises in the Canary Islands four years ago indicated the presence of tiny gas bubbles in the animals' internal organs, particularly the liver, which scientists believe is linked somehow to sonar.

     SIMPLY THE BEST - THAT'S THE SEA CADETS !