Abandoned baby whale might be put to death

[n2doc]

(CNN) -- An abandoned baby whale that has been trying to suckle from yachts in an Australian harbor appeared to be weakening Wednesday as wildlife workers considered ways to save it.


The lost humpback whale calf swims around an area north of Sydney Harbour on Wednesday.

Unless rescue workers can come up with a plan soon, the starving 2-week-old calf might have to be put to death, officials said.

"It's a really sad and difficult situation," said a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC), who spoke on condition of anonymity, as is customary.

"It's caught the heart of Australians, and at the moment the public is really, really desperately wanting something to save the whale."

Humpback whales are in the middle of their annual migration from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed and then back again.

The calf was first spotted Sunday in waters off Sydney. Officials think it most likely was abandoned by its mother but aren't sure why.

more:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/20/baby.whale/index.html

God this is hearbreaking...

[enlightenment]

1. It is very sad, but it would be even worse

if it is allowed to starve to death. Sometimes euthanasia is the most compassionate response.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Can't it be captured and fed? Someone must be able to approximate

what baby whales eat. If no one knows, and it's starving, then I guess it's better to put the poor thing out of its misery. Sometimes nature can't be interfered with.

[supernova]

5. Was wondering the same

??

We feed other baby critters all the time. Can't we learn to make whale milk? (Perhaps not in sufficient quantities, though. Don't whale calves put on ungodly amounts of weight the first months?

[underseasurveyor]

6. Baby whales have been cared for in the past

A baby Gray named JJ, was taken in by Seaworld a few years back she was tube fed a solution of krill-fish-supplements and ??? and when she was getting too big for her holding tank they tag her, put her on a ship and took her out to sea where they released her. As far as I remember she did ok.

So there is a way to save this baby whale.

[WinkyDink]

3. "Put to death"? Wouldn't the term be simply "killed"?

[The Stranger]

4. Lead it out to where the other humpbacks are -- or pick it up and move it out there.

Seems better than shooting it.

[LisaL]

7. Why can't they get some cow milk and feed it?

Better than starving? Couldn't they make some sort of apparatus so it can feed on some milk?

[LeftyMom]

8. Because trying to feed one species' milk to another leads to death by malnutrition.

Humans have to process the hell out of and add additional vitamins and fats to bovine milk so that it won't kill human babies.

Marine mammals have milk with much higher fat content in order to fuel migrations and build up protective blubber- seal milk has the consistency of mayonnaise.

[applegrove]

9. Very sad.

[lonestarnot]

10. Why can't they take it to Sea World or somewhere and feed it.

[emilyg]

11. I was wondering the same thing.