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Rescuers worked for hours to refloat it and then towed it a mile downstream. They hoped it would make its way to the ocean, but it was later spotted swimming several miles upstream. When it became stuck again, rescuers decided the best thing to do would be to end its suffering and put it to sleep.
The size of the whale, estimated at around 4.5 meters, suggested that it was still maternally dependent. There was no sign of its mother and it was in poor nutritional health.
It s very rare for whales to come into the River Thames. The port authority said the calf would have come from the North Sea, the divide between Great Britain and Norway.
RIP Minnie, such a sad ending : Londoners mourn baby minke whale that was put to sleep after becoming trapped upstream in Thames despite desperate battle to save it
The whale was first freed in the early hours of Monday morning after it got stuck in Richmond Lock and Weir
While animal was refloated at time, it swiftly got stranded again near Teddington after swimming upstream
As condition deteriorated and hopes for its survival faded, the decision was made that it should be euthanised
A vet gave the whale an overdose of anaesthetic - meaning it wouldn t feel anything except the needle
BBC News anchor stunned as images of the Queen flash up during Thames whale report
During a segment on BBC News, the anchor was describing the events of a whale in the River Thames when images of Queen Elizabeth II as a teenager flashed on the screen in an awkward blunder
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River Thames whale was malnourished, post-mortem tests show
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image copyrightReuters
image captionThe whale was loaded on to the back of a truck at Teddington lifeboat station and taken to Whipsnade Zoo
A juvenile minke whale that had to be put down after becoming stranded in the River Thames had starved over a few days , vets have found.
The one-tonne whale was rescued after getting stuck in Richmond Lock, but escaped and was later found beached against a river wall in Teddington.
It was put down after vets found its condition was rapidly deteriorating .
Full results of the post-mortem tests carried out on the female minke are not expected for a few weeks.