Whaling for Mom : Rescuers Losing Hope in Vigil Over Lost Baby Gray

In a calm but urgent race against time, Coast Guard crews, lifeguards and marine mammal experts converged Friday on a remote stretch of Venice Beach, struggling to rescue a 3-day-old gray whale that somehow became separated from its mother and briefly beached itself on the shore.

Experts suggested that the baby was in immediate peril, principally because it needs to be nursed several times a day.

As the ocean drama unfolded, with hopes raised and dashed that the infant’s mother would be found, a steady stream of anxious onlookers stood vigil on the shoreline as though they were watching a frightened child search for its mother.

The whale, still attached to its umbilical cord, was first spotted at 8 a.m. about a quarter-mile south of the Venice Pier. Hours later, it had finally made its way back to sea. But by nightfall it was still not reunited with its mother, leaving anxious officials wondering how long the confused baby whale could survive.

“It’s a waiting game. We just need to see what it does next,” said John Heyning, curator of mammals at the Natural History of Museum of Los Angeles County. By late afternoon, a sighting of an adult whale off the Santa Monica Pier by a county lifeguard inspired brief hope that it could be the baby’s mother. But lifeguards on a patrol boat sent to the area could not locate the whale.

Soon after, lifeguards gave up their search and ordered its crew to moor their patrol boat. As darkness began to fall, even members of a nonprofit whale rescue team that had stayed with the young whale had lost sight of the baby mammal, which spans about 12 feet and weighs about 1,500 pounds.

Danny Douglas, a county lifeguard spokesman, said the lifeguards would not continue their search overnight.

“We were told by the federal government to leave the whale alone,” Douglas said. “To let it take its own course.”

The baby whale was first discovered by a maintenance crew with the county Beach and Harbors Department as it foundered in the shallow surf. The maintenance workers contacted county lifeguards, who in turn notified various public and private agencies that a rescue might be necessary.

When county lifeguards arrived and attempted to calm the whale, it managed to right itself and swim away. But as lifeguards watched, the infant beached itself three times along the shoreline before finally making its way beyond the surf.

Swimming south toward the Marina del Rey breakwater, the whale looked as if it would continue on out to sea to eventually meet up with one of the many pods of gray whales making their 7,000-mile winter migration to Baja California from the frigid waters off Alaska.

But about a quarter-mile from shore, the baby whale stopped swimming out to sea, and started moving about in circles.

“He just kept surfacing. I could hear this delicate wailing sound,” said Sandy Saks, 50, who watched the ocean drama by binoculars from the terrace of her oceanfront condominium.

“It seemed to me that there was a sense of confusion because of the way the whale was moving back and forth,” Saks added. “The boats that were around him were unable to get him to move in one direction.”

The infant’s confusion did not surprise marine mammal experts.

“The whale is disoriented. It is swimming in circles with no clear direction,” said Rima Heifetz Lowe of the Point Mugu Wildlife Center, which assisted in the rescue efforts.

Authorities said that while the infant did not appear to have any serious injuries, its age alone dictated that it could not be left on its own for long.

“Because it is so young, the situation is critical to either find a mother so it can nurse or rescue the baby and bottle feed it,” said lifeguard Douglas.

Throughout the day, a Coast Guard helicopter and a lifeguard’s rescue boat combed the coastline for signs of any pod of gray whales, which travel in groups of six to 30 on their three-month migration from the Bering Sea.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Whale Rescue Team and members of the county’s Marine Mammal Program boarded two small boats and floated alongside the baby whale to monitor its health and progress.

It is unknown how the baby whale became separated from its mother.

“Was it sick and couldn’t keep up? Or did the mother die in childbirth?” Heyning said. “All we know is we have an orphaned calf.” By midafternoon, the experts on the boats huddled to discuss whether to leave the infant alone or attempt a rescue that would have the baby transported to Sea World in San Diego, where it could be bottle-fed and raised until it became independent.

(About 25 years ago, a baby whale was rescued and raised for a year at Sea World, before it was released into the ocean. That whale, named Gigi for gray girl, was seen periodically for years later.)

But because gray whales are protected by federal regulations, the final decision on what to do with the infant was left up to the National Marine Fishery Service. That agency opted to let nature run its course.

As a result, Heyning said, “its chance of survival in the wild are slim or zero at this point.” Just before dark, JoAnn Scott, 60, stood on the beach, shivering. She had left her condominium to brave the chill after watching news accounts of the baby whale on television.

“Is he out there? God, I hope they find him,” Scott said.

“It breaks my heart. I can’t let my grandson know,” she said. “It would be such a shame if the whale doesn’t find its mother.”

Times staff writers Greg Krikorian and Tina Daunt contributed to this story