A young humpback whale is thought to have been the first of the creatures to strand in London’s River Thames.
The 9.5m-long juvenile was first spotted by volunteers from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), floating dead off Gravesend. Three days later it came ashore near Dartford Bridge, and was removed by Port of London Authority (PLA).
A post mortem revealed that the whale, a male estimated at about two years old, had died of starvation. This indicated that it had entered the river, where there would have been little or no suitable food, before it had died.
