Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press Yahoo News 22 Aug 08;
The baby humpback whale was starving, injured and hours from death. So despite anguished cries of "Murder!" and "Shame!" from protesters who thought it could still be saved, wildlife officials on Friday euthanized the animal, which had strayed into the waters off north Sydney nearly a week ago.
The decision to end the calf's life, first sighted in the inlet on Sunday, closed a story that exposed divided opinions over what should have been done for the whale, nicknamed "Colin."
Attempts to tow the 1- to 2-month-old calf out to sea failed, as it continued to try to suckle from boats it apparently mistook for its mother. A few people designed feeding mechanisms they hoped could deliver nourishment to the animal, but officials deemed artificial nursing impossible. An Aboriginal whale whisperer tried to soothe the creature, patting it while singing a humming, tongue-rolling tune — but Colin swam away to nuzzle another boat.
By Friday morning, the whale was starving, riddled with parasites, appeared to have been attacked by sharks, and had drifted into very shallow waters, said Sally Barnes, deputy director-general of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. There was no other choice but to end the whale's misery, she said.
"It's a very sad day — it's a very emotional day," a weary-looking Barnes said as she stood in the rain soon after the 14-foot-long creature was dragged to a beach. "People have become very attached to this whale."
Wildlife officials in half a dozen boats corralled the creature into an area near the shore and injected it with a sedative. The whale could be seen thrashing and struggling in the chilly, gray waters as workers began towing it toward the beach. Several slowly stroked the animal's back, before hoisting it onto the beach and administering a lethal injection.
Gray tarps were hung around the animal's body to obstruct the view of journalists and protesters in nearby boats. Media were blocked from accessing the inlet by land, and maritime police patrolled the waters to stop boats from approaching.
The body was later sent to Sydney's Taronga Zoo for an examination.
"Shame! Shame!" yelled Brett Devine, a marine salvage and rescue worker who had hoped to feed the whale a milk and krill concoction via a tube that lay unused on his boat.
"It's shameful what we've done here today," he said angrily. "It's very un-Australian. It's disgusting."
Barnes and other marine experts defended the euthanasia, insisting the whale died in the most humane way possible.
"This animal needed to be destroyed," said Steve Coleman, an official with the animal welfare group RSPCA. "It was cruel to keep it alive."
Officials believe the calf was abandoned by its mother, possibly because she was ill. The parks service was investigating reports of an adult whale carcass being eaten by sharks off the coast of the southern state of Victoria on Friday, Barnes said. Officials hoped to collect a DNA sample from the whale to determine whether it was the mother.
Associated Press writer Tanalee Smith contributed to this report.
Australian Rangers Put Down Orphan Baby Whale
Rob Taylor, PlanetArk 22 Aug 08;
SYDNEY - An orphaned whale calf which had been suckling from a yacht in a Sydney bay in a futile bid to find its mother was given a lethal dose of anaesthetic on Friday as its condition deteriorated, Australian wildlife officers said.
"It's a tragic end to a programme that dozens of people have put their hearts and souls into," state National Parks and Wildlife Service official John Dengate told Australian radio. The humpback whale, nicknamed "Colin" by local media, was found at the weekend attempting to suckle from a moored yacht at Pittwater Bay after being abandoned by its mother off Australia's east coast.
Rangers injected a lethal dose of anaesthetic from an inflatable boat which took around 10 minutes to take effect. The whale was still alive when it was dragged to a nearby beach and covered with a tarpaulin.
"Everyone is very connected to this animal and it is a very emotional decision," state Parks Service chief Sally Barnes said.
"It's a bit like if you have got a family pet, when the vet says to you 'there is nothing more we can do', and the animal is suffering. I've taken the decision that I don't want to prolong the agony of this animal," she said.
A vet report and blood tests on Thursday revealed the two-tonne calf, believed to be only two to three weeks old, was in poor condition and had only hours to live. It was suffering from shark bite wounds and breathing difficulties.
A team of park rangers and marine scientists surrounded the animal in boats and decided to put it down shortly after sunrise.
An Aboriginal "whale whisperer" was brought to the bay on Thursday to "talk" to the calf. Colin responded by lifting its head, whisperer Bunna Lawrie recounted afterwards.
"He heard me singing and came over. I looked at him and he was full of life. He had a few scratches and cuts on him and I was a bit worried about his eyes. All he needed is a mother's milk," Lawrie told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
He pleaded with authorities for a change of heart.
The whale's struggle to survive captivated Australians, who strongly oppose Japanese "scientific" whale killing and flock to whale-watching tours during the giant mammals' annual migration to the Antarctic and return to breed in warmer Australian waters.
On Monday a team of workers towed the private yacht out to sea to try to lure the calf into deeper water, hoping that it would find its mother or another passing whale pod, but it was spotted close to the beach at Pittwater again on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Lost baby whale euthanised in Australia
Yahoo News 22 Aug 08;
A lost baby whale which captured hearts around the world as it tried to suckle from an Australian yacht it thought was its mother was killed Friday to end its suffering, wildlife rangers said.
"The calf has been quietly and humanely euthanised," National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesman Chris McIntosh told AFP. "It was a sad moment, but it went quietly to sleep."
A vet on board a small boat in Pittwater Bay near Sydney's Palm Beach first administered an anaesthetic through a large needle, by simply leaning overboard and injecting the weakened humpback calf, he said.
The animal, nicknamed Colin, was then moved onto the beach and given the euthanasia drug behind screens under tight security, with a small group of protesters kept outside an exclusion zone.
The calf's fate had been the focus of growing concern in Australia as efforts to reunite it with passing pods of humpback whales failed and a series of desperate rescue proposals was made.
The army was asked whether it could help float Colin back out to sea while a scientist suggested it could be fed formula milk through an artificial teat.
An Aboriginal 'whale whisperer' was brought in to comfort him on Thursday, singing ancient songs which brought Colin to the side of the national parks' boat, where it lifted its head and allowed itself to be patted.
"He felt really lonely and he wanted to be with his mother and family," said Bunna Lawrie of the Mirning tribe from the Great Australian Bight.
But the head of the national parks service, Sally Barnes, said that while the decision to euthanise the whale was difficult there was no other option.
"It was suffering extremely so we've had to make the very difficult decision," she said.
The calf was first spotted on Sunday and had weakened rapidly over the past couple of days without the daily 230 litres of mothers' milk which it would normally consume.
In a remarkable effort to return it to the ocean, the calf was lured out to sea on Monday by a 'mother ship', a whale-sized yacht from which it had been trying to suckle after apparently being abandoned by its mother.
But after failing to find its own mother or an adoptive parent among the pods of whales passing Pittwater, Colin returned to the bay and again began trying to suckle yachts.
The humpbacks are on the return leg of an epic annual round trip from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed, and they can be seen ploughing homewards not far off Sydney's beaches on most days.
Experts say that the passing whales and Colin would have been able to communicate, but that the chance of him being adopted was always extremely slim.
The whale's body was taken to Sydney's Taronga zoo, where an autopsy will be carried out.
