Fate of whale's carcass unknown

Last updated at 11:14 23 January 2006


A whale stranded in the River Thames for two days before it died during a rescue attempt could be buried in landfill or incinerated, its rescuers said today.

The 15ft northern bottle-nosed whale caught the attention of the public and the world's media when it surfaced in the heart of the capital on Friday.

Despite all efforts to guide the distressed sea mammal to safety, it died on Saturday night.

The failed £100,000 rescue operation was captured on rolling television news while newspapers were full of the whale's plight.

A post-mortem examination was carried out yesterday and the results will be published on Wednesday.

Uncertainty

But there was uncertainty today over what would happen to the carcass and who was responsible for it.

Alan Knight, from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group in charge of trying the save the animal, said the whale was still in Gravesend, Kent, where it died.

"It will probably go to a landfill site or be incinerated," he said. "There are concerns about zoonotic diseases which can be passed from animals to humans."

He went on: "We are not sure if the Receiver of Wrecks is responsible for it.

"As part of the Maritime Coast Guard Agency, they are responsible for wrecks on the beach."

But a spokeswoman for the MCA said the whale was not its responsibility because the mammal died on a barge rather than land.

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