Free Gonzo!

A northern bottlenose whale is stranded in the River Thames in England! The whale nicknamed Gonzo, has been in the river for more than a day. BBC reports that Gonzo is swimming further inland. From BBC:

The 16-18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale was spotted early on Saturday in the Battersea area - the furthest upstream it has swum....

"The whale is currently in the water, it's very quiet," he said.

"We were not 100% sure it was in Greenwich. The fact that it is in the Battersea area suggests the whale is disoriented. It's not going in any particular direction."

He explained it was "impossible" to tell what the whale's condition is like, but he said Paul Jepson, vet with the Zoological Society of London, saw the whale from a boat and it appeared to have injuries.

Meanwhile, a blog has been setup by a PR firm to track the progress of Gonzo. Here's a poem sent to the whale blog by one of their readers. From Lewis PR - Whale Watch:

Oh Gonzo we feel like we know you,
Swim swim as best you can

You know what you have to do
all of London is your fan

Gonzo is in trouble -
we must not let him die

If only we could put him in a bubble
Why Gonzo? Oh why?

'We must save Gonzo' we say,
don't let them fill him with lead

At the end of the day
Gonzo is dead.

I sure hope Gonzo will be alright. After the dolphins, whales are my next favourite animal. Go Gonzo! Swim out to the ocean! For photos, do take a look at A whale came to The Thames photoset on Flickr. Learn more about the northern bottlenose whale here.

(Thanks Greg, falsetto55)