Tollé après le meurtre de Colin

Protests as whale calf put down

Lex Hall | August 23, 2008

A HUMPBACK whale calf, abandoned and starving to death in shallow waters in Sydney's north, was put down yesterday amid a chorus of complaints about its treatment.

Whale lovers have labelled the killing of the whale -- initially nicknamed Colin but later renamed Collette after it was found to be female -- a "pre-programmed slaughter", saying the animal thrashed about in distress before it was killed.

"(She) actively started trying to get away," nearby resident Cherie Curchod said. "Then they dragged it to a closed tent and all the while they dragged it, it was flapping its tail, blowing out of its head and moving and trying to get away. It was so upsetting because euthanasia is meant to be an easy death and that whale did not have an easy death at all."

The baby whale was found motherless and starving on Sunday in The Basin, inside Pittwater on Sydney's northern beaches, nuzzling yachts in search of her missing mother.

She returned again on Tuesday having been lured out to sea, and authorities opted against making another attempt to shepherd the 4.5m calf back into open waters.

Animal welfare groups responded to the criticism yesterday, saying they were satisfied with the way the abandoned calf was put down.

RSPCA spokesman Steve Coleman said his organisation had backed the National Parks and Wildlife Service's decision to kill the whale.

"To destroy an animal of this size is never an easy task," Mr Coleman said. "What had to be done was done. This animal is no longer suffering."

NSW NPWS director Sally Barnes said the operation was done in a "peaceful and dignified" way. She said efforts were being made to obtain a DNA sample of an adult whale carcass found off Eden on the NSW-Victoria border to determine whether it was the calf's mother.

Wildlife experts used ropes to tow the juvenile 300m to the shore where it was given two lethal injections under the cover of a tent.

An autopsy of the whale is being carried out at Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24226759-30417,00.html