A baby Beluga whale was found washed up on the shore of the St. Lawrence River by a vacationing family who noticed that her umbilical cord was still attached. As it was suspected that she was only hours old and the mother was far from sight, the family’s boys began hydrating the Beluga as they waited for help to arrive.
Fifteen-year-old Nicholas Milliard and his brothers were the first to find the calf: “We dug a hole so that water would accumulate and its skin would hydrate. Every five minutes we got it a bucket of water. The water level was dropping, and it was becoming more and more difficult to get water.”
Researchers from the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals (GREMM) later arrived and brought the baby back to the water. They then introduced her to several pods of Beluga whales so that she may find a lactating whale other than her mother, who is still missing.
Although the researchers were concerned about her survival, they left her to adapt to her new surroundings after taking a skin sample in order to track her in the future if needed.
Source: Bored Panda
