Australian rangers put down orphan baby whale
(Updates with autopsy, protesters)
SYDNEY, Aug 22 (Reuters) - An orphaned whale calf which had been trying to suckle from a yacht in a Sydney bay was given a lethal dose of anaesthetic on Friday as protesters failed in a last ditch bid to let it die naturally.
"It's a tragic end to a programme that dozens of people have put their hearts and souls into," state National Parks and Wildlife Service official John Dengate told Australian radio. The humpback whale, nicknamed "Colin", was found at the weekend attempting to suckle from a moored yacht at Pittwater Bay after being abandoned by its mother off Australia's east coast.
An examination on Friday established it was actually a female.
Rangers in an inflatable injected a fatal dose of anaesthetic which took around 10 minutes to take effect. The whale was still alive when it was dragged to a nearby beach and covered with a tarpaulin and a tent.
"Everyone is very connected to this animal and it is a very emotional decision," state Parks Service chief Sally Barnes said.
"It's a bit like if you have got a family pet, when the vet says to you 'there is nothing more we can do', and the animal is suffering. I've taken the decision that I don't want to prolong the agony of this animal," she said.
Wildlife activists and onlookers who gathered at dawn, some weeping, tried to block the whale's destruction with a legal injunction but were too slow to save the animal.
"It was absolutely disgusting. We had five minutes and during that time they euthanased poor Colin," Captain Alexander Littingham, from Devine Marine Group, told Sydney commercial radio.
Dengate said wildlife activists had abused rangers, shouting "murderer", as vets and scientists moved in.
SHARK BITES AND BREATHING DIFFICULTIES
A vet report and blood tests on Thursday revealed the two-tonne calf, believed to be only two to three weeks old, was in poor condition and had only hours to live. It was suffering from shark bite wounds and breathing difficulties.
A team of park rangers and marine scientists surrounded the animal in boats and decided to put it down shortly after sunrise.
An Aboriginal "whale whisperer" was brought to the bay on Thursday to "talk" to the calf. Colin responded by lifting its head, whisperer Bunna Lawrie recounted afterwards.
"He heard me singing and came over. I looked at him and he was full of life. He had a few scratches and cuts on him and I was a bit worried about his eyes. All he needed is a mother's milk," Lawrie told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
He pleaded with authorities for a change of heart.
The whale's struggle to survive captivated Australians, who strongly oppose Japanese "scientific" whale killing and flock to whale-watching tours during the giant mammals' annual migration to the Antarctic and return to breed in warmer Australian waters.
The story also spread around the world via the Internet, with chat rooms and forums abuzz with opinions on how the whale should have been treated.
On Monday a team of workers towed the private yacht out to sea to try to lure the calf into deeper water, hoping that it would find its mother or another passing whale pod, but it was spotted close to the beach at Pittwater again on Tuesday.
Dengate said an autopsy would be done on the whale at Sydney's Taronga Zoo to determine what may have caused the animal's mother to abandon it.
(Reporting by Rob Taylor, editing by David Fox)
