 SCIENTISTS MONITOR BEACHED WHALE Palm Beach Post -- Monday, July 23, 2001 By: Kathleen Chapman, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer FORT PIERCE -- Sick and listless, a pygmy sperm whale drifted wearily around a tank at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution after its rescue from an Indian River County beach Sunday morning. Scientists said the whale, which they named "Jeb" to draw the attention of Gov. Jeb Bush, was dehydrated and half-starved, but alert and responsive. With constant care, the whale has some chance of recovery and release back into the ocean, scientists said. Jeb weighs a mere 975 pounds -- emaciated for an 11-foot animal that should weigh about 1,200 pounds, Harbor Branch's Steve McCulloch said. He fed the whale squid and gave it water through a tube in its throat. McCulloch, a dolphin researcher, said he would sleep on a cot next to Jeb's tank, checking the black and white mammal's heartbeat and breathing through the night. Chris Vann of the Indian River Shores Public Safety Department was patrolling the beach near the Ocean Reef Resort about 6:30 a.m. Sunday when he spotted Jeb offshore. That rapid response "made all the difference in the world," McCulloch said, as scientists were ready to mobilize when the mammal beached just after 8 a.m. About 150 tourists and beachgoers watched as rescuers rolled the ailing whale onto a whale-sized stretcher and heaved it into an ambulance, McCulloch said. During a 30-minute ride south to the makeshift marine mammal hospital at Harbor Branch, scientists sprayed the whale to keep it from overheating. Though there have been a few mass strandings of healthy whales, which spend their lives in cool deep waters miles offshore, solitary whales typically wash onto the beach only when they are critically ill. Scientists are alarmed by the number of sick marine animals on Florida's coasts in recent years. Because healthy whales have few, if any, natural predators, their deaths are often an indicator of pollution, McCulloch said. They sometimes swallow plastic bags, which can cause them to starve or become disoriented. About one pygmy sperm whale drifts ashore on the Treasure Coast every month, McCulloch said, and the rate of stranded marine mammals has been twice the usual rate during the last several years. Jeb was found near where two dead beaked whales washed ashore last month. Veterinarian Gregory Bossart said scientists were also worried by the new viruses and cancers found in the beached animals. Bossart gently held the giant mammal in its Harbor Branch holding tank Sunday, listening to its heartbeat with a stethoscope. Blood tests and and an electrocardiogram will help him discover what might have caused the animal's low weight, he said. McCulloch said only about one in 100 beached whales rescued nationwide can be saved. Harbor Branch's survival rate is 35 percent to 40 percent, he said. McCulloch named the whale Jeb to publicize Harbor Branch's efforts to get state money to build a $25 million marine mammal teaching and research hospital. Pygmy sperm whales, which rarely have been kept in captivity or been hunted, remain alien to humans, Bossart said. Most slip away a day or two after they leave the ocean, he said, giving scientists little more than a glimpse into their lives. "Our job is to provide comfort for them," Bossart said. "And there is a slim chance you can rehabilitate them -- always that chance. It's part of human nature that you want to give it a shot." Copyright (c) 2001, The Palm Beach Post |