The pygmy sperm whale that captured the attention — and hearts — of the public when it was rescued from La Jolla Shores last month died late Wednesday after surviving nearly a month in captivity, officials from SeaWorld announced Thursday.
The young marine mammal beached itself on the afternoon of July 28. It was found by beachgoers, including a team of Scripps Institution of Oceanography graduate students, who worked to cool the animal with seawater for up to an hour until experts from SeaWorld arrived at the scene.
SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz said the whale had been treated inside a rehabilitation pool within the park’s Animal Health and Rescue Center and appeared to be improving until recently.
“The calf had remained in critical and guarded condition since her rescue, but had been showing steady signs of improvement, even gaining 8 pounds, over the last 27 days,” the marine park said in a statement. “While SeaWorld’s rescue team and veterinarians understood that the odds of the calf’s long-term survival were not favorable, they did everything they could for her including providing around-the-clock care over the past month.”
Experts knew last month that the survival rate for beached pygmy whales is historically low, but that did not lessen the blow of losing the animal.
“We’re just heartbroken about the loss of this little calf,” said Jody Westberg, head of SeaWorld San Diego’s stranded animal program. “Her passing was very emotional for all of us. We gave her everything we had and truly hoped she would have survived.
“Our rescue team poured their hearts into trying to give her a second chance at life,” Westberg added.
Erika Delamarre, a master of advanced studies candidate at Scripps, was one of the student researchers who helped calm and cool the pygmy sperm whale last month until the SeaWorld team arrived.
She said Thursday she was sorry to learn of the whale’s passing.
“The most recent news we received from SeaWorld was that it was still hanging in there,” said Delamarre, who is doing field work is at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies on Catalina this week.
“From what I understand, no juvenile pygmy whale had been held in captivity for so long, so this is really disappointing,” she said.
Delamarre said like many mammals, including humans, pygmy sperm whales develop slowly and tend to rely on their mothers for nursing and other needs for a long time.
“When they’re that young, they are very vulnerable and they also need that nutrition,” she said. “To be alone and without its mother. I’m sure was a very challenging situation.”
Pygmy sperm whales are so-named due to their similar appearance to the larger mammals. The smaller species grow up to 14 feet in length and known to be relatively slow swimmers and tend to avoid ships. As a result, much of what is known about pygmy sperm whales is learned from studying beached animals, which is not uncommon.
“Strandings are common to this species, especially in some areas of (the) southeast coast of the United States, and often they are strand alive either as single individuals or cow calf pairs,” according to the American Cetacean Society. “Many have been taken to aquariums where all efforts to keep them alive have been unsuccessful.”
The death prompted SeaWorld to cancel a media update on the whale’s condition that had been scheduled for Thursday morning. Marine park experts will conduct a post-mortem examination, or necropsy, to learn more about the species and determine the cause of death.
