Colin the whale

Colin the whale
21-08-2008

Im sure many of the frrum members from Sydney will know what i am talking about when i say colin the whale but for those who dont there is a very heated debate in sydney atm regarding the welfare of a baby humpback whale that became stranded in pit water almost a week ago now. the debate is about the what to do, if nature should be allowe dot take its course and the whale is left to die, if it should be taken into captivity and attempts made to rear it or if it should be uthinased. for us as advicates for zoos in most situtations i think this case raises some intresting ethical dilemas. we all want to see the whale live and have a happy ending (as im sure the media does too!) but personally i think that the best thing at this point would be to euthinase him, the chances of sucessful rearing in captivity are soo slim and there are no sutible facitiites to do it in.

what are others think should happen?


for more info check this artice for a start and then there are links to a few mor e and most sydney papers will have lots on him
The Sydney Morning Herald: national, world, business, entertainment, sport and technology news from Australia's leading newspaper.

21-08-2008

Why doesn't Sea World take it? Sea World San Diego took an orphan humback a while back and were able to rear it and then released to the wild.

21-08-2008

they talkd about sea world san deigo taking in whales but they had a HUGE pool that ehy could drain partially every two hours and the situation in San Deigo is diffrent in that once the whale is fully grown they can realase it not far from there and it will have food ect. The gold coast doesnt have facilities that even come close to being able to take a humpback whale, and no one knows the make up of humpback whale milk so inccorect formula could kill it. also once it is reared it would have to make the journey from queensland to antartica on its own before it reached a soild food supply.

21-08-2008

I think you will find SW San Deigo has much better tanks than we have in oz also SW here is around 1000kms north of Sydney, its a very sad case

21-08-2008

Does anyone know the phone number for Japan?

21-08-2008

It starts with 0011 81

I think their refrigeration ships might have gone home.

21-08-2008

That was a grey whale, not that it makes much difference because of all that has already been stated on this thread.

21-08-2008

I'm glad to see 'sick' Australian Humour back on this site :P

21-08-2008

Personally I think the money it would cost to possibly save it would be much better spent on other conservation programs. No one wants to see it die but in the bigger picture it is the best option. Nature is not kind and possibly the mother abandoned it for a reason. Even if the calf does not have anything wrong with it, it may be its mother with poor mothering instincts. Either way it is likely a benefit not to have this calf's genes to continue.

I think this link is very relevant as it is about the waste of funds to save individual animals instead of habitat or whole populations.

Wasting precious money on the conservation-irrelevant ConservationBytes.com

22-08-2008

Hes going to be Euthanased anyway, was on the news last night

22-08-2008

Its been done this morn and the responses in the papers have been crazy! i rsepect everyones opinions but the people from NPWS and the experts in the feild have all talked about how it was the only option and he died peacefull but one animal rights group tried to get a court injunction this morning to save him and were planing on using a giant funel and pump to force feed it... what exactly they planed to feed it im not sure....

P.s its been taken to Taronga for autopsy and turns out Colin the whale was actually a little girl!

22-08-2008

RIP Colleen

22-08-2008

In the normal course of things Colleen would have died and her body would have fed sharks and other marine animals. Yet no one seems concerned about the deprivation of food for them.

22-08-2008

thats a good point

22-08-2008

RIP. very sad case