Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press Yahoo News 22 Aug 08;
Wildlife officials moved ahead Friday with plans to euthanize an injured and abandoned baby humpback whale that has been trying to suckle boats in the waters off Sydney.
The decision was made Thursday after veterinarians and marine researchers examined the whale, determining that its condition had deteriorated to the point that euthanizing it was the most humane thing to do.
But officials later were unable to find the whale in the dark waters of Pittwater Inlet. Early Friday, the whale was located, and officials moved ahead with plans to sedate it before administering a fatal dose of drugs later in the day.
The plight of the whale, which Australians have nicknamed "Colin," has dominated news coverage here since it was first sighted Sunday and began trying to suckle from boats it apparently mistook for its mother.
"We have a whale whose condition has deteriorated rapidly over the last 24 hours, and who now experts are telling us is suffering, and we've had to make the hard decision to euthanize the whale," said Sally Barnes, deputy director-general of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. "It's a very emotional decision."
She said officials had sought out national and international advice on how to deal with the lost whale but its condition had become too poor to treat.
Some Australians have accused wildlife officials of not doing enough to help the calf or trying to feed it.
Previous attempts to guide the whale back to open waters have failed, with the creature preferring to stick close to the boats.
One effort came from Aboriginal whale whisperer Bunna Lawrie, who visited the calf Thursday afternoon. Adorned with feathers on his head and white paint markings on his face, Lawrie reached into the water to stroke Colin while singing a humming, tongue-rolling tune.
But after a few minutes the whale swam away to nuzzle a nearby yacht.
"He's missing the big fellas," said Lawrie, whose visit was broadcast on Channel 10 television.
Reporters were barred from reaching the inlet via land, and maritime police physically blocked a boat carrying members of a rescue group and several reporters.
On the Net:
National Parks and Wildlife Service: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks.htm
Lost baby whale to be killed in Australia
Yahoo News 21 Aug 08;
A lost baby whale which captured Australians' hearts as it tried to suckle from a yacht it thought could be its mother will soon be killed to end its suffering, wildlife rangers said Thursday.
"He's taken a really serious turn for the worse just now," said John Dengate, spokesman for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife which has been at the forefront of efforts to save the animal.
"The vets have had a look, they've said he's having breathing difficulties, his flippers are at an unusual angle, he's not going to last much longer, you should put him down," he told national radio.
The baby humpback was discovered on Monday in Pittwater bay near Sydney's Palm Beach, trying to suckle on the hull of a whale-sized anchored yacht, after apparently being abandoned by its mother.
In a remarkable effort to return it to the ocean, the calf -- dubbed Colin after the man who first found it -- was lured out to sea by the 'mother ship'.
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.
With public concern over the calf's fate growing, the army was asked whether it could help with a flotation device to take Colin back out to sea and a scientist suggested it could be fed formula milk through an artificial teat.
But the logistics of feeding and looking after a whale calf which would need about 230 litres of milk a day were insurmountable, experts said.
"The vets who had a look at him were really surprised at how fast he'd gone downhill," Dengate said.
"Their advice to us was 'he's not going to last much longer, he's suffering and you should take action'."
"It's a really tragic result from an operation that people worked really, really hard (on)."
Nobody knows why the uninjured calf was apparently abandoned by its mother, with some experts saying that, while this happened sometimes in the wild, it was also possible the two had become separated somehow.
The humpbacks are on the return leg of a remarkable 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.
