By Victoria Mckeown-
A young minke whale that became trapped on part of the River Thames in West London has finally been freed this morning.
The first sighting of the whale reported to be 3-4m long was on Sunday evening at 7pm in Richmond Locke and Weir where it had become trapped on the Locke’s boat rollers.
Hundreds of people had gathered overnight to support the traumatised animal while vets, members of the RNLI, fire crews, and marine rescue divers worked throughout the night to free her. The teams were able to get the malnourished animal onto a dinghy. and take it along the river however.
She manged to escape and there has been no sighting of her since. This has caused great concern due to her fragile state and the injuries she incurred whilst being trapped. The rescuers have pleaded to the public to report and sightings of her, the last known sighting of being along the river near Isleworth at 1am this morning.
In 2019 a minke whale was spotted swimming in the Thames but was found dead a few days later in shallow water.
In the same year A beluga whale nicknamed “benny” was seen living in the River Thames for three months. It is thought he left after he had consumed his fill of fish.
Minke whales can be found throughout the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They are the smallest of the great whales but can still grow to about 10 metres. They are one of the species most severely affected by the whaling industry.
Whalers have accused them of being the main cause for the depletion of fish stocks when in fact their impact is a mere blip compared to the destruction caused by industrial fishing practices.