Last night I was going through the news feed on my laptop when I came across a rather sad story of how a baby whale had to be euthanized. Colin, the 1 to 2 months old whale calf, was first sighted in the waters around North Sydney on Sunday.

It is said that the baby humpback whale was heavily injured in a shark attack and abandoned by his mother, possibly because he was ill. He spent quite a few days among yachts mistaking them for its mother. Officials even attempted to lure him out to sea in hopes that he would attach to a passing pod of humpback whales but it was all in vain.

Taking this baby whale into captivity was not a viable option since he was still being breast fed and thus, did not have a way for him to being fed and nutritioned. There was no way for them to even socialize him.

By Thursday, it was noticed that Colin’s condition was deteriorating rapidly and that his suffering had increased greatly . Having looked at all possible options, wildlife officials had to broken-heartedly decide to euthanize him to free him of his suffering. Quite a few people designed feeding techniques and many gave advice, but nothing helped reduce his plight. In such situations, the most humane solution seemed to be to euthanize the baby whale which was lonely and longing for its mother.

It was very heart-breaking to hear that even though the whale whisperer Bunna Lawrie tried to soothe Colin to stroke him while singing a humming, tongue rolling tune… wearing feathers on his head and white paint markings on his face, the baby whale swam away to nuzzle a yacht nearby.

In Bunna Lawrie’s words “He’s missing the big fellas”

There’s a lot to learn from this news feed, but I would rather not get into that because all I feel right now is pity and sadness for the helpless baby. Life isn’t always as easy…

For a more detailed article on this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26325489/