Colin the humpback whale put to sleep

A wayward baby humpback whale that had tugged on the heartstrings of marine mammal lovers around the world after it began mistaking boats off the coast of Australia as its mother, was killed today to spare it from further suffering, experts said.

The 2- to 3-week-old calf, nicknamed Colin, received anesthetic by a veterinarian aboard a yacht off Pittman Bay near Sydney and "went quietly to sleep," a spokesman for the country’s National Parks and Wildlife Service told Agence France-Presse news service.

But the saga is not over. The Daily Telegraph is reporting that a whale carcass found being preyed upon by sharks off a remote portion of coast may be Colin’s mother.

And the National Parks Service has revealed that Colin should have been named Colleen because she is a female. DNA tests will determine if the carcass is indeed the mother.

What an emotional week for whale enthusiasts and parks officials.

Protesters had called for the calf to be towed offshore a second time -- after the first attempt had failed -- to be reunited, perhaps, with its mother or adopted by another adult female. Neither scenario was deemed viable as the calf withered for lack of mother’s milk.

Some wanted the calf raised in captivity until healthy enough for release, but that was deemed too costly and impractical, especially given the whale’s deteriorating condition.

An aboriginal "whale whisperer" was called upon to console the calf with song in its final hours. Said Bunna Lawrie to the Sydney Morning Herald: "He felt really lonely and wanted to be with his mother and family."

(Bunna apparently was not informed by the calf that it was a male.)

The difficult decision to kill the calf probably was appropriate, given the circumstances.

Humpbacks are returning from the Antarctic to tropical waters to breed. If the calf’s mother indeed perished, it was highly unlikely it would be weaned by another whale. Pregnant mothers or those with calves do not generally adopt stray calves, as they have all they can handle already.

Stray calves die every year, but mostly out of the limelight. So it could have been worse. This calf, had it remained offshore, may also have fallen prey to sharks, or merely succumbed to starvation.

At least the suffering has ended.

-- Pete Thomas

Photo: Sydney Morning Herald

Comments

[Barbara Saberton]

Killing to stop suffering is indeed a great burden. But I could not believe that someone could watch something just waste away, while it was being attacked from the inside out, and call that more humane. As said in the article, surely it is more kind to do it this way, than let nature take it's course, and watch her in pain, when the odds of survival were so great, you sometimes have to face the harsh reality and do what's right. I am heartbroken by her death, as would anybody be with a heart, and I am most certainly glad I did not have to make the decision or perform the act of putting her to sleep, but I am relieved for her. When you have seen that suffering first hand, then tell me you wouldn't want to put them out of their misery. Let her rest in peace.

[K]

What a bogus ineptly researched article. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society had organized to help the baby humpback, and tried to get permission for days before bureaucrats chose to slaughter the whale. It did not simply get a shot and go to sleep, and as implied in this article, they spent hours dragging it onto the beach to kill it, and eyewitness reports indicate it put up a pretty good fight for something that needed to be "put out of IT'S misery"

Read the real story here:

http://www.seashepherd.org/editorials/editorial_080822_2.html

[Lysa NSW Australia]

Well, I must say that yesterday, I was ashamed to be an Australian. The authorities took 6 days to decide that Colleen needed to be put down to end her suffering but in that time, at least some kind of attempt to feed her should have been made. Australians are the first to hit out at the Japanese for whaling and yet can't even help one orphaned calf. They didn't even try!!!! Thats what makes me ashamed....we had to have tried and we didn't bother....it was too expensive but we keep our elderly and terminally ill patients on life support and it all gets billed to the taxpayer! Nope, I'm not an Aussie this week, I'm just too ashamed.

[Fabian]

What Is the meaning of this?
Killing it in a name of ending a suffering?
And they don't allow the ending of suffering for old, fragile, suffering and dying human.
This is downright discrimination against animal.

[Greg Tingle]

Bunna Lawrie didn't just speak, sing and touch the whale, he spoke, sung and touched the world. I think and feel that Bunna has helped bring us all closer together. We can all learn from this. Whaledreamers forever.