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Thames whale to be 'museum exhibit'

24/ 1/2006

THE bones of the whale which died in the Thames despite a £100,000 rescue bid will be given to the Natural History Museum.

The young northern bottle-nosed female was watched by millions on television as it struggled to survive in the shallow waters of the river.

It was first spotted on Friday and drew crowds of spectators, who lined the banks of the Thames.

But despite all efforts to guide the distressed mammal to safety, the 19ft whale died on Saturday night.

Since then a vet has carried out a post-mortem, but the results are not expected until tomorrow.

Preserved

Once the post mortem is completed, the bones will be cleaned and preserved at the museum for scientific research.

Information gleaned from the whale will be used in Britain's Marine Mammal Strandings Project, which investigates the causes of mortality in marine mammal species off the British coast.

The rescue attempt, carried out by the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, was beamed around the world on television.

There has been increasing speculation that sonar from Royal Navy vessels could have disorientated the animal.

Scottish Tory MEP Struan Stevenson said: "I suspect that the post-mortem will find that the whale's auditory system will have been damaged. Whales use sound as we use our eyes. If Low Frequency Active Sonar is used within 50 miles it can cause massive damage to the animal's organs."

But the Ministry of Defence has dismissed the claims as pure speculation.

Would you go to see the whale at a museum? Have your say.