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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1998)
mm. m The Battalion Nation Wednesday • April 1 . ^-SAfednes Sea World releases rescued gray whale SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Coast Guard cutter leaned hard, shifting with the weight pf the 10-ton gray whale as she precarious ly dangled over the side of the boat. “Release the whale!” cried the crew officer. The pulley whirled as the rope rushed through. J.J. slipped from the canvas cocoon that was supported by a crane and splashed into the water Tuesday. After 14 months at Sea World, where she was routinely fed, monitored and marveled at by tourists, J.J. must now survive on her own. She is the first gray whale raised by hu mans and her return to the ocean made his tory for marine science. “I’ve been waiting for this day since she came to us," said Sea World veterinarian Thomas Reidarson. “We have learned so much and it’s not over.” 1 Just after dawn, J.J. was cradled in a spe cially-fitted 32-foot stretcher, supported by 20-ton cargo boom. As she was lifted out of her holding pool at Sea World, she twisted and snorted as she swung above a flat bed truck. She was lowered into the animal trans port carrier, which was padded with foam rubber for comfort. Once snug, workers scrambled to keep her moist with misters and fans, like per sonal trainers preparing an athlete for a pin- pacle performance. The 12-mile ride took less than an hour. As the largest animal released into the wild, drivers were cautious not to jostle their heavy, precious cargo. The road trip was reminiscence of the first one J.J. tookjustoverayearago, a jour ney that saved her life. r Abandoned by her mother, the days-old gray whale was found churning in the surf Jan. 11, 1997, near Marina del Rey. She was malnourished, dehydrated, and undersized at 13 feet, 10 inches, weighing only 1,670 pounds. Her ribs showed through her skin. Her umbilical cord was still at tached. She was unconscious. “She was so limp we could just roll her over,” said John Heyning, a curator of mam mals at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. He was one of the first peo ple to reach J.J. after she was reported beached. Although scientists had never attempted raising a gray whale from infancy, Sea World spent $1 million on the effort. Rushed 120 miles to San Diego for emer gency care, marine biologists nursed her with a simulation of mother’s milk — a for mula of cream, vitamins and pureed fish. After a few months, she was eating squid. By Tuesday, she was a healthy 19,000 pounds and 31 feet long. Her daily meals at Sea World averaged 600 to 800 pounds a day. “She’s probably bigger and more robust than her fellow yearlings who just survived their first winter,” said Jim Sumich, a pro fessor at San Diego’s Grossmont College who has studied whales for more than 20 years. “But they may be tougher and stronger. There’s a lot they learned from their mothers and their natural environ ment that J.J. didn’t.” Once at the U.S. Naval Station Pier at San Diego Bay, the crew traveling with J.J. coaxed her onto the 180-foot buoy tender, the Conifer, hooking her stretcher to a crane usually used for loading equipment aboard warships. The experience was as new to J.J. as it was for the dozens who helped save her. A Pa cific gray whale has never before been raised by humans and released to sea. J.J. goes home Mass transit Here’s how J.J. was returned to the iGGt It has been a remarkable journey for the newborn gray whale that washed ashore on Venice Beach, Calif., 14 months ago with her umbilical cord still attached. From the day J.J. arrived at Sea World, park staff have been preparing her to return to the ocean. The young whale was returned to the sea Tuesday, several miles off Point Loma. PACIFIC BEACH 1 Vi' IPORJ * t staff an SEA WORLD Early Tuesday morning, Sea World handlers hoisted J.J. from her enclosure using a 30-foot nylon stretcher and a 120-ton crane. She was placed into a specially designed container, which was loaded onto a trailer truck. *# | e Mesa roun. SURFACE STREETS With escort in tow, J.J. was shuttled with care to the Naval Station, San Diego, Pier 2, near National City. NAVAL STATION \ SAN DIEGO J.J. was hoisted out of the container and lowered onto a 3-foot-thick foam rubber mattress, located on the deck of the Conifer Texas A&M’s F |ce(! to the sec= ■ Oaks Interna - 2-inch pent Tuesday vw closed-ce 'el Wade Magu ■ Country Glut Do Mesa, a fre^ fcyne, Fla., is ). 38 nationally ta ite Rankings, wf - ■from Atlanta, < 14 in the world by In the second |l I face third-: J Bsian, who cat ngles champio ■rican honors i ppna State. Sai 3174 in the worl " I PACIFIC OCEAN The Coast Guard, also with an escort, moved out of San Diego Bay and released J.J. into the ocean several miles off Point Loma. No private boats were allowed within 500 yards of the Conifer. lies sv I playei Ladies the Men of Chippendales are coming to Bryan/College Station The Men of Chippendales will be appearing at The Texas Hall of Fame ONE NIGHT ONLY 7pm on April 9th VIP Tickets Available. Call the Chippendale Info Line at 800-680-0703 for Ticket Information or to Purchase Tickets with a Visa or Mastercard. Must be 18 or older. 2AE CHIL1FEST ‘98 featuring JERRY JEFF WALKER °*Kri> huhi, APRIL 4,1998 STARLITE BALLROOM • SNOOK, TX RAIN OR SHINE DOORS OPEN AT 11.00 AM • TICKETS $10 ADVANCE $1S AT THE DOOR AVAILABLE AT CAVENDAR’S • MSC TEXAS AGGIE BOOKSTORE PARK AND RIDE AVAILABLE AT ZACHRY PARKING LOT 11:00AM 6:00 PM DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE! 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