A second dead whale has been found in the Thames today just weeks after the first ever humpback was found washed up in the London river.
The giant mammal died by Town Pier in Gravesend at about 10am today – less than five miles from where a humpback whale was pulled from the water in Greenhithe on October 9.
At this stage the Port of London Authority is still assessing reports of this morning’s findings as it seeks to determine the size and species of the animal but a spokesman said finding two dead whales in the Thames in such a short space of time was ‘quite bizarre’.
On October 7, a 9.5 metre humpback whale was spotted swimming in the River Thames but died shortly after, likely from starvation although it also displayed ‘ship strike’ injuries.
The first time a humpback had ever been found in the Thames was in 2009 while in 2006, a northern bottlenose was spotted in the river in central London.
Whale, dolphin and porpoise deaths are investigated by the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP), which was formed in 1990 and funded by Defra.
The group documents individual strandings and establishes a cause of death.
In 2009 Rob Deaville, CSIP project manager said there had only been 12 strandings of humpback whales in the UK in the last 20 years, calling it ‘an incredibly unusual event’.
While sad to see, post-mortem examinations of dead whales do give scientists a rare opportunity to examine ‘a truly extraordinary animal’ at close quarters.
Information gathered helps further understanding and helps contribute to improving their conservation status.
