Rescuers save baby whale in Australia

Mon Aug 8, 2011

A joint team of rescue workers have finally saved a massive baby humpback whale which took a wrong turn at an Australian beach losing his mother.

The 1.5-ton whale, said to be a week old, was discovered in the early hours of this morning, mailonline reported.

Rescuers from Sea World, National Parks and Wildlife and the Gold Coast City Council lifeguards pulled the whale back into the water, but it got trapped in a shark net just off shore.

The youngster was freed after the team cut the net and the calf swam off unharmed. It will, however, be tracked until he can reunite with his mother.

Saying that the whale had to find his mother, Sea World's director of marine sciences said it would not survive for long alone without his mother's milk.

“It's not over yet,” Trevor Long told the Australian Associated Press. “He's very sore and not moving it much at all.”

According to Long, the baby whale was alert and in good condition, but rescuers were concerned the mother, who had not been spotted despite a search, was no longer nearby.

“You can't keep pushing it out, the animal's going to suffer and suffer, so the only decision then is that we probably have to euthanize it,” Long said.

“These animals need to be with their mother, they're almost velcroed to their mother side-by-side, and it's a wonderful, wonderful bonding relationship.”

Scientists are screening blood samples from the calf for diseases to find out the reason why his mother abandoned him.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192975.html.