It was a cold grey winter morning in London last Friday and commuters were looking forward to the weekend away from work and into their warm cosy homes. Like many, a commuter walking over the Waterloo Bridge saw something which compelled him to call the BBC. “Hello, eeh.. this might sound a little strange and I m not sure if I am hallucinated but I.. I think I have just spotted a whale going up the Thames. Soon news spread and emails and SMS were floating around about this new exciting creature whizzing around in Central London. One interesting message said- Has he tried the Motorway (M4). He could see a lot more Wales on the other side (as in England and Wales). Another SMS to a friend who live by the Thames said- Stop feeding your goldfish. There is a whale right outside your window. The curiosity of some onlookers turned into comic suspicion that it might be Bin Laden’s submarine disguised as a whale inside which little frog terrorist must be hidden to destroy the west.
Now compared to our mighty Brahmaputra, Thames looks like a “naala” (no offence). The more you travel towards central London the narrower it gets and hell, is it a busy river with tourist boats, private jetties and police boats operating 24/7 and spotting a whale there- nah…you must be joking! My other half called Guwahati and in good humour told my motherin- law- Maa, they spotted a whale in the Thames and at the moment it’s near the Houses of Parliament. Perhaps it has come to give a petition to Tony Blair on global warming. Latest news reports identified that it was a 19ft adolescent female, bottlenosed whale and is usually found in the North Atlantic Ocean. An adult whale can grow up to the length of a traditional London bus. Despite the poor creature getting all the unnecessary attention, this has actually turned out to be a good educational trip for us. How many members of the public knew that we had an animal like this living in waters just to the west of the UK? The sight of a disorientated cetacean on their doorstep may be a novelty for Londoners, but globally there is nothing unusual about this phenomenon. But the mammal was terrified as the mob were chasing it (in all good faith) to take it back to the sea. An environmental science student from Kings College London tried to slash water at it and said “Come on girl, you don’t want to die here. Throughout the day, it captured the attention of thousands of people who flocked to the river banks but all efforts failed. It has already beached twice, and since darkness fell, rescuers had been unable to track its progress. Around 6 pm, it suddenly went past the Thames barrier and people thought, freedom at last but the mammal still lost on her own, spend the rest of the evening under the Albert Bridge.
By Saturday, the mega rescue operation begun to get her back to where she belonged. Hundreds of Londoners and millions of people all over the world were watching the rescue operation live on BBC 24 and Sky news. I was one among them. Like many, my husband didn’t move an inch from the television for the rest of the day. Are you crazy- this is “Free Willy” and “Finding Nimo” combined together and that too in our own environmenthe said. His calls to Guwahati didn’t end too. I even overheard him telling a friend back home- aieera poonati, aji aietu case amaar tat hobo lagisil, uzanbazar ghaatot, blackot bikri hol heten!
London has seen it happen too. Back in the 17th century thousands of whales were killed simply to extract their oil for lighting. Barrels of whale oil were placed around the streets and lit each night and London even won a reputation of being one of the best lit cities in Europe. It is the first time a bottle-neck whale has been seen in the Thames since records began in 1913 but this time the aim was to save, not slaughter but the rescue wasn’t going to be easy. It is a long journey from Thames in central London to The North Atlantic. Should they hire an army helicopter and lift her out? That might be risky. Will it survive till it reaches safe waters? How do you handle a 19ft 8 ton mammal hanging lose in swallow waters. There are questions of high and low tides. Worst situation, should it be put to sleep? And of all the questions, how did it get so far from the sea? Bottlenose whales usually travel in family pods and the young ones are dependent on their mother. Was she separated from her family and got confused and swam up the Thames instead?
By noon, helicopters flew in; vets, marine biologists and rescue team members in their wetsuits soothed the whale by stroking its hulk and keeping its grey skin splashed with water. Blood samples were taken and it was whisked away for analysis. Divers and volunteers waded in, talking reassuringly to the whale while manoeuvring inflatable bags around it. Then it was guided between two small motorboats and towed downstream to a bigger vessel. It was then hoisted abroad by crane, laid on a large inflatable dinghy acting as a hospital bed and covered with damp blankets. Whales can survive out of water for a while provided its body is kept moist. Thus the procession began. It crossed the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and then Greenwich. All along thousands of spectators rushed from one side of the bridge to the other to get a glimpse of the mammal. London came to a standstill. One of the rescue workers on the boat said – You are looking at a creature that big right up next to your eye and it’s looking back at you, you wonder what it thinks. Does it know the effort that everyone’s making for it? There is a very deep affinity between humans and whales because they are one of the very few animals that can imitate – a rare quality in the animal world.
Meanwhile the crowd was getting emotional, some mentioned that it was inspirational and others were bursting into tears seeing the creature live. I mean you go to sea world and you are mentally prepared to witness similar creatures but watching her live in your surroundings was just another experience. Everybody including my husband was sincerely praying for her survival. A sense of togetherness and bonding engulfed all Londoners for those few hours.
During this whole drama, the whale was 2006 thought to be conscious. Whales need to be awake to breathe and scientist believes that only half of their brain sleeps at a time. But she was exhausted and rapidly became disorientated and distressed, and sadly after about seven-hour since the rescue operation began, as they reached Gravesend in Kent, she passed away, after suffering convulsions. Mark Stevens, a member of the team said: We turned the lights off on the boat as a mark of respect when she died. There were tears everywhere. Big hairy men crying like sissies.
Post-mortem findings confirmed that the echo response areas of her brain were damaged; causing the animal to become distracted, hence she was disoriented. Decision has been made to give the body to the Natural History Museum after all the tests were complete and it will clean the bones and preserve them for scientific research. The whale captured the imagination of the British public - and of people all over the world - and now her legacy will live on," said one of the museum's zoologists. Animal lovers voiced fears that it may have become confused by noise from boats on the busy Thames.
I was personally touched to see something with immense grace and dignity in such close proximities that it was truly an unbelievable experience of a life time. It was not the first whale to lose its way and its life in an unfamiliar territory, and it might not be the last.
Being trapped in London accidentally for more than two days, she acquired various names from the public- Willy, Wally, and Celebrity Big Blubber but to me, I shall simply call her GRACE.
I would like to thank the BBC, Sky News and The Times newspaper for their help in contributing to the research for this article.
By Sanchayita Sharma, London
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