Dead Porpoise Found in River Thames

October 28, 2011

Chiswick Lifeboat crew make grim discovery

Lifeboat crew members at Chiswick RNLI lifeboat station made an unusual discovery on Thursday ( October 27th) when they found a dead porpoise floating in the River Thames . It is highly unusual for a porpoise, which is a sea mammal, to come so far up the river. …

A crew member contacted London Coastguard to alert them to the find, and carefully collected it from the river, before returning to the lifeboat station at Corney Reach Way. Ella du Breuil, volunteer lifeboat crew member with Chiswick RNLI, is also a marine biologist – she identified the mammal and confirmed it was a porpoise.

Andy Mayo, Chiswick RNLI lifeboat helmsman, explained more: ‘We had just finished the rescue at Dover Pier and were coming back downriver when we saw the porpoise floating. It was clearly deceased, which is obviously very sad. We explained what we had found to the Coastguard and they asked us to collect it and bring it back the station, as the body would need to be assessed.’

The carcass of the porpoise was …

chiswickw4.com

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