I feel bad about the Humpback whale calf who mistook a Pittwater Bay yacht for mother and has been trying to suckle the hull. Baby whale is starving. He's only one or two months old — some said only two weeks old. He desperately needs to eat.
Instead, baby whale, named Colin by Australian media, circles around the yacht north of Sydney Harbour, New South Wales.
Everybuddy has been hoping that baby Colin would join other Humpbacks passing by on their migration. Helpful humans used the yacht to lead Colin back out toward open sea so a whale mum could adopt him. But no success yet.
Bringing Colin into captivity is not a great option 'cuz he should be breast fed by a Humpback mum. "It's a really sad and difficult situation," said a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC). "It's caught the heart of Australians, and at the moment the public is really, really desperately wanting something to save the whale."
Human officials think they might be able to use an inflatable sling to tow Colin farther out to sea, where he has a chance of being reunited with his mother or being adopted by a lactating female Humpback willing to be a surrogate. If this doesn't happen soon, Colin won't stand a chance of making it.
Somebuddy suggested saving baby Colin by feeding him from an artificial teat with a milk formula made for humans. Colin would need as much as 230 litres of milk a day for up to a year. So far there aren't any humans willing to pay for that much food.
Only one human team has ever successfully fed and weaned a stranded whale calf. These folks, at Sea World in San Diego, California, say they can't help. What the woof? Poor Colin!
I've stood on the shores of the Pacific U.S. Coast with my dog-ma as Humpback whales make their way past during annual migration. Whales are very beautiful and impawtant animals.
Here's what I as a dog don't understand: If humans can put other humans out in space, why can't they put one baby whale out in the ocean?
I feel sad. Dog-ma's cousin in Bayview, very near baby Colin, feels sad, too. Pawleeze, somebuddy, take baby Colin whale out to sea mum!
1 comment:
I see poor Colin (Collette) has now been put to sleep. How sad and let's hope she rests in peace. It seems everyone did what they could but it's unfortunate a better solution couldn't be found. I hope the consoling song sang by the "whale whisperer" comforted her as she departed.
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