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Should they have killed the baby whale?

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Aug 22 2008 | By: baraza

I was so sad to read this story - and kind of glad that I couldn’t watch the video about lost baby whale in Australia

The BBC report that the “Australian wildlife officials have put down an injured baby humpback whale named Colin that began suckling on boats in waters to the north of Sydney”.

MSN give more details here 

The authorities felt that it would be stressful to try and feed it and that it would have died of starvation. Surprisingly the mercy killing has not sparked much response apart from a comment in Chai’s marine blog  -

What do you think? Did they do the right thing to give up on  him or could this baby have been saved? What could have happend to it’s mother?

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7 Responses to “Should they have killed the baby whale?”

Annie, on 22 Aug 2008

Ah….that is too sad…….poor baby…………I would have at least given it a try to help feed him and not just put him down…I believe it is our job as humans to take care of the creatures of this world we live in! This made me sad………….

sheryl, washington dc, on 22 Aug 2008

Would they have euthanized a human infant who was ill and lost his/her mother? Every life is worth trying to save, no matter the species.

s.

Christine C., on 22 Aug 2008

It is a tough call…they tried to get the baby back out to sea, but were unsuccessful…they also discovered that his injuries were much more severe than they originally thought…they think he had been attacked by a shark. I don’t know, the who story made me very sad…I was hoping maybey they could take him to an aqaurium…

antonio canella, on 22 Aug 2008

I agree Sheryl: evey life is lost for ever!

Sonja, on 22 Aug 2008

Personally I think it was more responsible and ethical to put down the whale. Perhaps at first it seems unethical, but the other truly plausible options would have been human care of the whale which would have been extremely psychologically inadequate (we’re not whales, and we can’t properly raise whales—I’m not saying we can’t raise/rehabilitate other animals), putting the animal in captivity (in my opinion such a move defeats the purpose of the situation), or trying to get the whale adopted by a surrogate mother (unlikely).

I think that euthanizing the whale was a the responsible thing to do.

Lisa, Seattle, on 23 Aug 2008

I hate to hear that the baby was euthanized, but I doubt the decision was made lightly. A trip to an aquarium may have just prolonged the inevitable and caused him to suffer needlessly.

Robin Andreae, on 23 Aug 2008

I’ve worked in marine mammal rescue and feel that it was a very tough call. So far attempts at rescuing even smaller cetaceans has been woefully inadequate. There has yet to be a successful rehab of a whale larger than a beluga. I think the poor “little” guy would have suffered a great deal. I’m not even certain that there is a good substitute for the high fat, high caloric whale milk. Certainly, a great deal could be learned from the attempt. But at what cost?

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