The lonely Thames beluga whale is an anomaly - and an omen | Philip Hoare

It seems apt this whale has appeared in the ominously named Gravesend. Throughout history belugas have been a portentYesterday's report of a Arctic beluga whale in the Thames has an almost Shakespearean quality of something both rich and strange, sensational and fatal at the same time. She's tragically in the wrong place; comparisons with the Thames whale of 2006 are all too obvious. Despite a million-pound rescue attempt, that northern bottlenose died of dehydration, unable to feed on her deep-water diet of squid and thus slake her thirst.Londoners may be becoming blase about marine mammals, with an upsurge in sightings of seals; I saw one recently, sunning itself on the riverbank in front of the National Theatre as if auditioning for a role. Continue reading...