A dolphin that drew crowds after it was spotted in the River Thames in central London has been found dead, it was reported today.
The 10-foot, bottle-nosed animal was found on the bank of the River Thames in Wapping on Sunday.
Ms Margaux Dodds, director of the Marine Connection, a London-based dolphin and whale conservation charity, said they had been monitoring the dolphin for the past two weeks.
The charity had hoped to have the animal examined if it had beached itself. Attempting to treat it in the water would have been too stressful for the dolphin, she said.
"We had been monitoring it for two weeks and we had the vet out and we went out and looked at the animal. We got as close as we could in the boat last week and it had a lot of muscle wastage and was very, very thin and looked quite sick."
She said a post-mortem on the dolphin was being carried out this week.
PA