August 20, 2008

A humpback whale calf was trying to “suckle” from a yacht off the coast of Sydney. (Photo by The Associated Press)

SYDNEY, Australia -- Time appears to be running out for a humpback whale calf separated from its mother that is mistakenly trying to nurse from boats off Sydney, according to observers.

The baby whale was first sighted last Sunday just north of Sydney, and soon began trying to suckle from a yacht, which it would not leave. Experts say that unless the calf feeds soon it may have to be destroyed.

Euthanasia was “the most likely outcome, but we are not at that point yet,” said Chris McIntosh, spokesman for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife.

Another assessment of the whale’s condition will take place on Thursday, and a decision will be made on what it best for it, according to McIntosh.

The whale appears to be growing weaker. It needs up to 230 liters of milk daily, according to a spokeswoman for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Rescuers towed the boat into open sea, hoping it would find another female to suckle from, but the attempt failed and the whale returned to an inlet near Sydney. The latest such attempt failed on Wednesday.

The whale has since tried to suckle from other boats.

“It sounded like a bit of a vacuum cleaner on the bottom of the boat,” said sailor Peter Lewis. “I finally got up and here’s this whale suckling the side of the boat.

“It was a very, very sad sight. It did it for about an hour, going from side to side on the boat, and at times blowing air under the boat. And it just seemed to give a sigh out at one stage as if, you know, ‘This isn’t working.’ ”

Humpbacks feed only in summer, in polar waters, and migrate to tropical or sub-tropical waters to breed and give birth in the winter. During the winter, humpbacks fast and live off their fat reserves. The species' diet consists mostly of krill and small fish.

Humpbacks have a diverse repertoire of feeding methods, including the bubble net feeding technique, in which a group of whales blows bubbles while swimming in circles to create a ring of bubbles. The ring encircles the fish, which are confined in an ever-tighter area as the whales swim in increasingly smaller circles.

The whales then suddenly swim upward through the bubble net, mouths agape, swallowing thousands of fish in one gulp.

One Australian scientist suggested making an artificial teat to feed milk formula to the whale off Sydney. The whale, however, needs so much milk t hat such an option is not realistic, experts say.

This is not the first time whales have become distressed in the waters surrounding the land down under. In March, Pet Pulse reported on the remarkable rescue a dolphin made in leading two pygmy sperm -– a mother and her calf – safely out to sea.

The rescue happened in the same hour as marine biologists were preparing to euthanize the exhausted and disoriented whales.

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News.bbc.co.uk and Wikipedia.org contributed to this story.