Stranded baby whale back in the deep

8 Aug 2011, 2:45 pm   -   Source: AAP
A humpback whale. (File: AAP)

A humpback whale. (File: AAP)

A baby humpback whale is back in deep water after beaching itself on the Gold Coast and then getting tangled in a shark net.

A baby humpback whale is back in deep water after beaching itself on the Gold Coast and then getting tangled in a shark net.

The whale was rescued after stranding itself on Surfers Paradise beach on the Gold Coast, only to become entangled in the net just off shore as it attempted to swim out to sea.

But the snag didn't stop its efforts to get back to the deep and find its mother.

Trevor Long, Director of marine Sciences at Sea World, says his team cut the net away and the calf swam off unharmed.

"It probably took half an hour to cut it free but it's back in deep water and about 500 metres on the other side of the shark net now," he told AAP.

Rescuers will keep watch over the youngster for as long as they can, hoping it will reunite with its mother.

The week-old calf was returned to the ocean in a marathon rescue operation after it became stranded on the beach about 1am (AEST) on Monday.

But there is a risk it could beach again.

Mr Long, who directed the rescue, says the main aim of the 50-strong team was to get the calf back into the water so it could call to its mother.

"It's not over yet. The whale has been lying on one pectoral fin all night," Mr Long said.

"He's very sore and not moving it much at all.

"The hope of this exercise is that he will now be able to communicate with his mother but we don't know where his mother is.

"However they can communicate for many tens of kilometres so if his mother is 20 or 30 kilometres away she might be able to pick him up.

"He may come back to the beach. We've done everything we can at this stage but at some point in time we'll have to leave the animal and let nature take its course."

Blood samples taken from the whale will be screened for diseases as researchers look for a clue to why its mother abandoned it.

Photographs taken on the beach will be compared to pictures of a mother and new calf seen swimming off the Gold Coast on Sunday to determine if it is the same baby.

Despite a sea and air search rescuers have yet to spot the calf's mother but are hoping she will return to guide him out to deep water.

Mr Long said the calf could survive for up to five days without feeding from its mother but would become progressively weaker. It was already very tired.

During the rescue rescuers kept it wet with buckets of water and protective material.

A backhoe dug a channel to the water's edge and a rope, attached to a harness, was taken beyond the breakers by jet skis and tied to a Sea World boat.

The vessel and a team or rescuers then hauled the 1500 kilogram baby into the incoming tide to the cheers of several thousand onlookers.

Moments later it gave a powerful flick of its tail and swam off the harness and into the water where it slowly began to move offshore.

Mr Long said the baby was alert and in extremely good condition despite its ordeal, and if it reunites with its mother, has an excellent chance of resuming its migration south to the waters of the Antarctic.

"However if it doesn't reunite with its mother and comes back on the beach, I think we don't have too many decisions to make," he said.

"You can't keep pushing it out, the animal's going to suffer and suffer, so the only decision then is that we probably have to euthanase it.

"These animals need to be with their mother, they're almost velcroed to their mother side-by-side, and it's a wonderful, wonderful bonding relationship.

"This is something today that's been very, very sad."

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