[ad_1]
DOSSIER – In this archival photo of August 7, 2018, the J50 killer whale and his dam, the J16, resident of southern Vancouver Island, near Port Renfrew, BC Nearly two months old after an international team of experts has begun to take extraordinary steps to save the young orca sick, the whale seriously threatened is leaner than ever. Now, NOAA Fisheries and its partners plan to step in to help the J50 killer whale. (Brian Gisborne / Fisheries and Oceans Canada via AP, file) (Associated Press)
SEATTLE – A sick young whale is leaner than ever and in poor condition nearly two months after an international team of experts took extraordinary steps to save her.
Now an American agency and its partners plan to step in to help the female orca known as the J50 by temporarily capturing it, treating it on the spot and releasing it, or reintegrating it briefly before returning it to wild.
Veterinarians believe that they have exhausted field treatment options, including injecting swimmer whales with antibiotics twice in northwest waters.
"No rescue operation will continue until J50 stays with J Pod and his family group," said NOAA Fisheries agency, the agency responsible for protecting marine mammals.
The teams would save the killer only if she found herself stuck or separated from the rest of her whale group in order to minimize the potential risks for these other whales, the agency said.
J50 is one of 75 orcas that eat fish in the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Another Orca of the same group, known as J35, sparked international sympathy this summer when she held the body of her dead calf afloat for more than two weeks.
Southern resident killer whales do not have enough chinook salmon, the staple of their diet. They also face threats of toxic contamination, as well as noises and vessel disturbances that disrupt their ability to communicate and feed.
There has been no successful birth in the population since 2015. Losing J50 also means losing reproductive potential, say biologists.
An international team of Canadian and American whale experts has made intensive efforts to help the young killer whale since concerns were raised in mid-July.
They took samples of breath and stool, but still do not know for sure what's wrong with J50.
Intervention teams twice injected her with antibiotics and tried to give her medications to help fight parasitic worms because they thought she had taken stool samples taken from her mother .
The teams also dropped several live salmon from a boat while J50 and its gondola were swimming behind. A test to determine if the fish could be used to administer drugs.
The drone images taken on Monday showed that J50 was much thinner than last year. His mother, J16, also declined in the past month, perhaps because of the burden of helping to catch and share food with the J50s, according to experts.
"Things are going badly for her right now," said Joe Gaydos, wildlife veterinarian and scientific director of SeaDoc Society. "She is a little hard cookie. It's amazing that she keeps going. "
As part of the intervention team, he tried unsuccessfully Friday to give the whale a vermifuge by dart. He said the experts met on Monday to discuss a series of scenarios, including the pros and cons of catching a whale in free swimming and when to intervene.
"We do not want to take it from her mother where we have a J35 situation, we do not want to have an impact on J pod," said Gaydos, but to wait until it's too late. "These are questions very difficult to answer and I think the good thing is we are talking about all the options. "
NOAA Fisheries announced two meetings in Washington this weekend – Friday Harbor and Seattle – to gather public feedback on the next steps.
What to do to help J50 has generated intense emotional reactions on social media and other forums. Some have called on federal officials to do their utmost to save her, including by feeding or capturing her. Others worry that more interventions would stress her and her loved ones. They think that nature should be able to take its course.
"We would like J50 to survive," said Susan Berta, co-founder of the Orca Network, a rights group. "How much more do we do harm than good?"
The last time scientists rescued a killer whale in the area, it was in 2002, when a killer whale resident in the north, known as Springer, was found alone in Puget Sound.
She was transferred to a floating pen in Puget Sound and the vets evaluated her condition and treated her. She was fed salmon living in the pen. Later that year, she returned to Canada with her family of whales. In 2013, she was seen with her new calf.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
[ad_2]
Source link
