Colin the Whale!

[emmasi]

For those who do not know, there is a baby humpback whale milling about in the waters off Sydney. It has lost it's mother, and it seems like everyone in the country is obsessed about what to do next.

My question is... WHY should anyone do anything next? This is a wild animal. It has been abandoned by it's mother and there's nothing anyone can sensibly do about it. It can't be taken into captivity because no one has the facilities for it. And why would a baby whale want to be shoved into a tank anyway? The other option is killing it... why? What right does anyone have to walk into a natural, albeit sad, situation and decide to stab the thing with a needle or shoot it in the head or whatever it is they're planning to do with it? LEAVE THE DAMN THING ALONE and let the sharks have it! They need to survive too you know (especially with the vicious market for shark fins growing amongst the more sadistic corners of society), and a baby whale would keep them fed for weeks! But of course they can't move in with human beings swarming all over the area, ooing and awwing and taking happy snaps of how cute the little whale looks in its death throws... If people are that concerned about taking human action to get rid of it, let the bloody Japanese have it! It would save a healthy whale from death, wouldn't it? (Might even save a few sharks if people are too busy eating baby humpback to suck down a bowl of shark-fin soup.)

I'm sorry, I know a lot of people like whales, but this is just ridiculous. It's been four days of media coverage - they NAMED the damn thing for God's sake! - and now they've brought in an Aboriginal "whale whisperer" to sing to it... My god. Am I the only person in this country that thinks this is completely insane? I shudder to think of the amount of time, energy, and money that's been wasted on this media-frenzy. People are so concerned about the fate of a baby whale that's going to succumb to natural causes brought on by natural circumstances, but when other animals or even humans are being mistreated and killed and suffering horribly because of human actions that can actually be prevented, no one holds an international "crisis" meeting to try and fix it...

This is just so stupid and frustrating. It. Is. A. Whale. It. Is. A. Wild. Animal. Let. It. Be! >.<

[KaitieL]

You think they could have come up with a better name than Colin the Whale. Seriously.

I do agree. Let nature takes its course. I still think it's sad though.

[Drew]

Colin is quite a plain name. (not trying to offend anyone if your name is Colin...)

They could have called it Willy... But yeah, it is a bit crazy how everyone's attention is diverted towards it... Like, the story went before the plane crash that killed 150+ people...

However, I do feel for the poor thing.

[emmasi]

And now they've decided to kill it. Well that was a productive way to spend four days

[emmasi]

Oh good! Now they have to SEARCH for the whale in order to KILL it! I wonder how many missing persons could use that kind of attention to find THEM?

[Cerise]

Eh. Kill it? Why? What gives people the right to decide on an animals fate? This is just absurd. And now they're searching for it? Don't bother. If it's not there, it can't bother them, so why go out of your way to kill the innocent creature?

[Dan F]

I've read that the whale is in fact suffering from shark injuries, difficulties breathing and his flippers are at a strange angle - seems thats the reason they're killing it, to end its suffering.

I do agree about the whole hype around it though - I do wonder why whales still make the top story of the news when they seem to have plenty of them - both times we went to Oz there were stories about whales near Sydney harbour, we saw them ourselves off Palm Beach on their way down, but as soon as they get anywhere near Port Jackson its in the headlines - tis peculiar!

Interesting to see 'Colin' is in Pittwater though!

[KaitieL]

Looks like Colin was actually Collette.

[Miss Tan Tan]

My other half made a point to me that why should they euthinate an animal that can't tell you the reason it wants to die or live. Yet elderly people who want to die because of the fact that they are injured or just done with living and have had a decent life.

I find that it is wrong that the country got so caught up over it. I mean I got asked by a friend if I wanted to go see the thing. Don't get me wrong im a serious animal lover but naming an animal you knew you were going to have to end up putting down its just complete and utter idiocy from the Australian Journalists.

[~Lynd~]

My other half made a point to me that why should they euthinate an animal that can't tell you the reason it wants to die or live. Yet elderly people who want to die because of the fact that they are injured or just done with living and have had a decent life.

I get what you mean but i think if euthenasia was to be legal it should have strong security with good reasons.Old people who've had as decent life isn't a good enough reason imo.Anyone with a terminal illness in a lot of pain should have a say as should people who have a lifelong illness that while might not be terminal is painful and will never get better.It's insane that we care more about a whale then these people.