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Looks like the end of the line for lost whale calf

Off Sydney, little ‘Colin’ now faces euthanasia

— photo: AP

‘Colin’ swimming around a yacht this week.

SYDNEY: Officials who had planned to euthanise an injured and abandoned baby whale postponed the operation on Thursday night after being unable to find the animal in the dark waters off north Sydney.

Geoff Ross, a wildlife management officer, said the whale was possibly frightened and confused by the searchlights and the sound of the boats, and so they decided it would be easier to find the baby in the daylight. That is, if it survives the night.

Veterinarians and marine researchers who spent the afternoon examining the whale found that it may not live through the night, said Sally Barnes, Deputy Director-General of the New South Wales Department of Environment and Climate Change. “The calf was in much worse condition than they originally thought and the injuries were a lot worse than they thought as well, probably from a shark attack,” she said. “We have taken the hard decision to put it down, unfortunately.”

But after planning the logistics of the euthanising in the early evening, officials were unable to find the whale in the dark waters.

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.

“Our hearts are breaking with what’s happening with baby Colin,” New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said. “It’s looking bleak, but every effort is being made.”

One effort came from Aboriginal whale whisperer Bunna Lawrie, who visited the calf on Thursday afternoon. Adorned with feathers on his head and white paint markings on his face, he 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 the whisperer, whose visit was broadcast on Channel 10 television.

Protests

The decision to euthanise the whale prompted a strong protest from a rescue group that designed a feeding apparatus intended to provide milk to the ailing calf. “You said you’d give us a 24-hour stay of execution!” Brett Devine, a member of Devine Marine Group, shouted as environmental officials tried to calm him.

Some Australians 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. Officials with the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service were considering earlier Thursday whether to use an inflatable sling to tow the creature into deeper waters, where it would have a better chance of connecting with other whales.

But in the end, there simply was no other option to euthanasia, a grim-looking Ms. Barnes said. “This is certainly not what we would have hoped. We would have hoped that the animal would have been OK. It’s a very emotional thing.”

As darkness fell, wildlife officials and veterinarians huddled in a private meeting to work out the logistics of the whale’s fate. They planned to sedate the animal, tow it to shore, and inject a dose of fatal drugs into its heart. But after two hours of looking in the dark for the whale, they suspended the search until Friday morning.

On the Net, the National Parks and Wildlife Service is at http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/nationalparks.htm — AP

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