Beached baby sperm whale loses fight

Volunteers were unable to save a baby whale stranded in the shallows at Currarong yesterday.Currarong residents notified ORRCA volunteers that a baby sperm whale had become stranded in the shallows of Peels Reef.The female whale was believed to be only two or three weeks old, was not yet weaned from its mother and was unlikely to survive alone in the wild.ORRCA member Wendy McFarlane from Old Erowal Bay said without its mother for food and protection, the whale would not survive.She said residents who were first on the scene had done the right thing by rolling the whale over so its blowhole was clear of the water."It was very much a baby. It needs its mum to teach it how to be a whale," Ms McFarlane said.As the tide receded yesterday the decision was made to euthanase it."A vet who attended the site had consulted Taronga Zoo and the Pet Porpoise Pool at Coffs Harbour."It's the humane decision," she said."If we were to refloat a baby whale of this age it would be a sitting duck for sharks and killer whales. There has been talk of a large whale in the next bay around on Monday but we don't know if that was its mother or not - there are a lot of whales about."Ms McFarlane said the whale was initially calm "but her breathing and heart rate was getting faster as she became more distressed."None of us are enjoying this. You don't get used to it, you just learn to live with it," she said."We're basically doing palliative care until she is euthanased."Then she'll be taken back to the National Parks and Wildlife works depot at West Nowra for an autopsy before being buried," Ms McFarlane said.Currarong resident Mary Apperley said in her family's history in the coastal village, which dates back to the late 1800s, she had never heard of a whale becoming stranded so close to Currarong.She said a group of about 50 onlookers quickly grew to about 100 as word spread."I heard there was a pod of whales near Bosom Beach on Monday, I guess it was separated from its mother."The seas have been pretty rough lately," she said.Ms Apperley said an excavator would help remove the whale.