'Heartbreaking' - Lost Baby Whale Suckles Yacht

'Baby whale tries to suckle yacht - AP Photo/Channel 9' .

'It's just heartbreaking!' says John Dengate of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife.

Desperate attempts are under way to save a lost baby humpback whale which tried to suckle a whale-sized yacht in Pittwater 20 miles north of Sydney Harbour. Not able to part the little calf from the yacht, rescuers from the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service towed the yacht out to sea hoping to entice the calf to find other whales who would adopt it.

The rescuers thought they had been successful, when the baby whale did not follow the yacht and tow-vessel back into protected waters.

However today the baby whale had returned to the Pittwater basin, where it was spotted swimming 'rather energetically' around other yachts in the area.

The race is now on to save it, but wildlife experts are pessimistic about their chances.

Yacht with baby whale attached being towed out to sea - .. .

The calf, which needs urgently to find a mother to suckle to, is in 'grim danger' if it does not find a substitute,said John Dengate, a spokesman for the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. The only option is for the calf to find another pod of whales with a mother who can adopt it.

'We've wracked our brains to think of some kind of captive approach we can do, by taking it in and rearing it ourselves, but it seems to be impossible in Australia, and possibly around the world,' Mr Dengate said.

Baby whales suckle for 11 months on vast amounts of high fat milk and put on approximately 2 pounds a day. To raise this calf by hand, someone would have to take it in and feed it a special formula of whale milk substitute. They would also have to have the capacity to house it until it is grown to its full adult size of 40-50 ft (12-16m), with a weight of approximately 79,000 pounds (36,000 kg).

'It is pretty much an impossible ask,' Mr Dengate said. 'It's just heartbreaking, the only thing we can do is monitor the little fella and hope he finds a new mum.'

Every September and October the whales migrate south in small groups, with their calves in tow, to the colder feeding grounds of the Southern Ocean.

'There's not much more time this little thing can survive without being fed,' Mr Dengate said. 'It's a grim situation.'

by Timesonline/Sail-World Cruising