Confused baby whale will be euthanized

The Humpback baby is off Sydney in Pittwater. Thats in NSW not Queensland

Nice, thanx for the clip Vinny.

arwen808 has contributed a photo to this story.

this whale needs 50 gallons of 52% milk fat every day.  A 44 gallon drum would fit on that boat.  the skipper seems really smart and sympathetic.  Nursing this creature is simple enough. Let's do it. 

Cow milk is 2% milk fat so we need to blend half the milk with half canola oil.  And feed it from the underside of the boat.  

These whales need to feed in a lagoon environment until the blubber is sufficiently built up to migrate later.  It needs to stay around the basin area.

These whales need to feed in a lagoon environment until the blubber is sufficiently built up to migrate later.  It needs to stay around the basin area.  With 15000 left of these babies left we need to just do it yesterday...02 9356 3879.

This is a good story.  Unfortunately it is very sad.  The poor baby is suffering.  I know that if they do put it down, it will be the only in the whales best interest.  None of us like to see animals or humans for that matter, suffer. 

so sad about this little baby.

This whale kept flapping its tail on the water. No sure why it was doing it but it sure was spectacular.

StephanDupont has contributed a photo to this story.

We had a lost stranded whale swimming up the Thames last year.  Experts tried to save it, but sadly, human intervention was just too traumatic for the poor creature and she died in the special hoist to transfer her in moist blankets by boat to try to carry her back out to sea.  I cannot imagine this little baby humpback will fare any better.

This is a very sad situation, one that is felt most accutely by the National Parks and Wildlife Service staff who spent the past week trying to help this young whale. Despite the decision put the animal to sleep seeming to go against everything we stand for as human beings, rescuers always need  to consider the best intertests of whale first. Without it's mother, the experts agree the animal would not survive. Humpback mothers are very protecive of their newborn and she is baby's only form of protection - so they stick together very closely at all times. During this time mothers teach young calves the skills they will need to survive when they get older. That is why finding abandonded calf like this suggests something is seriously wrong.

Initally rescuers had been able to lead the calf back out to sea hoping it might be able to be re-united with its mother. However, the mother could not be found nor another whale pod which might adopt it. To the dismay of everyone the calf was discovered back inshore nuzzling moored boats the next day.

Lots of options where considered to try and save this whale. Unfortunately, there was no aqauria facilities large engough to be able to take an animal expected to grow to over 40 tonnes and 12 metres, 4 times its current size, and live for over 40 years.  

While it may have been possible to feed the animal short-term, one effect would be only confirmed to this calf that boats = food and safety. Therefore, if the young whale appoached a boat which had its motor running, seeking food it would be at risk of serious injury, or worse, from the propeller.

The other significant issue would be weaning on to solid food. Humpback whales eat krill which is why they migrate to many thousand of kilometres to the Antarctic. Krill is just not available off Sydney.

I hope this helps people appreaciate some of the limitations and, unfortunate as the outcome has been in this case, the committment of rescuers in working though this complex situation for the best possible outcome.