Abandoned whale calf put down

[Matilda]

"A baby humpback whale abandoned by its mother off Sydney's northern beaches has been put down.

The calf, nicknamed Colin, was found in the Pittwater Basin earlier this week and has been unable to feed since being separated from its mother."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/22/2343337.htm


Baby Colin captured the imagination and sympathy of Sydneysiders when his plight was revealed earlier
this week. There is considerable controversy about whether he should have been put down or hand-
reared and released into the wild. Bearing in mind that the three-week old calf was 3.5 metres long
and weighed nearly 4 tonnes already, feeding him appeared to be an unworkable option, but the plucky
little fella tried so hard to survive that many people felt he should be given every chance. What
is very heartening is that so many people cared, whether or not they agree with the decision to put
him down. Personally, I have shed some tears over Colin, although I think the situation had
reached a point where there was no other option - nobody would want to see his suffering continue.

The body will be studied to determine what was wrong with him, that his mother would have abandoned
him, but there are some whale experts who say that mothers never abandon their calves, and believe
that human activity may have been responsible for the accidental separation of mother and baby. I
hope that people won't forget this quickly, and push researchers to try and make conditions safer
for whales as they move to their breeding grounds with their babies.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/whale-watch/humans-could-be-to-blame-for-stranded-calf/2008/08/21/1219262390467.html


I hope the Rudd Government will take note of the level of concern in the community for baby Colin,
and take the anti-whaling fight more strongly to the Japanese before the next whaling season begins.

[flvegan]

1. Interesting article on Sea Shepherd's intent to help with this calf

Sea Shepherd Australia Director Jeff Hansen began to mobilize a coordinated rescue effort with the Australia Zoo and the government of New South Wales as soon as he heard about the unfortunate whale.

Unfortunately the bureaucrats could not be bothered. They refused to allow us to help Collette and they refused to attempt to feed her or to let anyone else try. They took the easy way out and simply killed her.

Killing is usually the first response of government bureaucrats when a wild species is in trouble. They dismissed our help, they dismissed our suggestions and they dismissed our pleas to spare the life of this baby Humpback.

As I said before Collette was killed, we could not be faulted for trying to save her life but the bureaucrats can be faulted for not even trying.

http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_080822_2.html

[Matilda]

2. In view of the fact that the Parks and Wildlife people lied

about the euthanasing of the baby whale as "painless", you have to wonder
whether they lied about there being no other solution.

As the whale was only 2-3 weeks old, it would have to have been
formula-ed, which undoubtedly would have been an expensive operation, and
unfortunately this may have weighed more with the authorities than
anything else. It was a bad experience all around for anyone who cares
about wildlife.

And incidentally, I agree with the Sea Shepherd's comments about Peter
Garrett - he's gone about as low as he can go. Sad for a once-respected
voice for nature.