SEWARD, alaska — Marine mammal specialists from across the country have descended on an Alaska aquarium to help care for a baby beluga whale that became separated from its mother after its birth.
The male calf is under 24-hour care at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, being fed by a stomach tube while learning how to suckle from a bottle.
“He’s currently doing very well, swimming on his own, and he has been from the first time he got here, learning to take food from a bottle, which has been challenging,” said Tara Riemer Jones, the center’s president and chief executive.
It’s thought to be the first baby beluga rescue in the U.S., at least since federal record keeping began in 1972, she said. Other attempts resulted in calf deaths or in one case, the calf being returned to its pod.
The whale was estimated to be 2 days old when it was found near South Naknek, in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, on June 18. Officials think a storm likely separated the calf from its mother. The calf is now about 5 feet long and weighs 115 pounds, up 5 pounds since his arrival.
