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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Kaleidoscope -> 
Killer whale carries dead calf for mourning
    2018-08-14  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

TEAMS of whale experts raced out to sea Thursday to help an ailing young killer whale, but they don’t plan to intervene to help a mother orca in the same critically endangered pod that has been pushing the body of her dead calf for over two weeks.

The young orca J50 was spotted off British Columbia and teams were preparing to do a health assessment if conditions in the waters between the U.S. and Canada allow, said Michael Milstein, a spokesman with NOAA Fisheries.

An international team of experts has been waiting for an opportunity to get close to the female killer whale so they can carry out an emergency plan that includes giving her antibiotics or feeding her live salmon at sea.

The 3-and-a-half-year-old orca is thin and in poor condition, and may have an infection.

The female orca known as J35 has been clinging to her calf since it died July 24, an image of grief that has struck an emotional chord worldwide. She was last spotted Wednesday.

U.S. and Canadian scientists said they would keep monitoring the mother whale but have no immediate plans to help her or remove the calf.

Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, said: “It would be very challenging and perhaps not in the best interest of the animal to go in and remove the calf. I’m not even sure we would be successful.”

The fish-eating orcas that frequent the inland waters of Washington state are down to 75 animals, and there hasn’t been a successful birth since 2015.

Veterinarians will try to assess J50, the sick whale, and decide whether to give her antibiotics using either a dart injector or a long pole syringe.

The team then could move ahead with feeding the orca live salmon from a boat moving ahead of the whale. The orca would initially get just a few fish to see whether she takes it and how she and members of her pod respond before deciding whether to give her salmon dosed with medication, officials have said.

The possibility of giving medicated fish to a free-swimming whale in the wild would be a first, officials said.

The last time scientists rescued a killer whale in the region was in 2002 when a resident killer whale known as Springer was found alone in Puget Sound. Hanson said Springer’s case was different because she was isolated. She was moved into a floating net pen and was fed live salmon. She returned to her family of whales in Canada later that year and in 2013 was seen with her new calf.(SD-Agencies)

(SD-Agencies)

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