Saving A Small Humpback Whale

• Colin
Colin was the name given to a presumably abandoned starving humpback calf that was discovered in August 2008 at Pittwater, north of Sydney, Australia. It attempted to suckle from moored boats to obtain food. Despite attempts to reunite the calf with whale pods by luring it out to sea, it returned to Pittwater. Opinion was divided on how best to handle the situation, with some advocating feeding artificial milk formula to the calf, and others advocating euthanasia.
Colin was euthanised on 22 August 2008 due to his deteriorating condition. The calf's plight gained media attention as far afield as the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Canada and New Zealand.
A subsequent autopsy found that Colin was terminally ill with an emaciated pancreas, ulcers of the stomach and oesophagus, intestinal erosion and infected shark bites. The calf was estimated to be only 7 to 10 days old and must have been separated from its mother shortly after birth.