Years ago, I was on a whale-watching trip, my first ever, hosted by the New England Aquarium. As we headed out to sea, the educator who was giving the narration was talking about the differences between the baleen whales, like the humpbacks that we'd most likely see that day, and toothed whales. He commented that, unlike toothed whales, baleen whales did not do well in aquariums. Which made my ears prick up. When I think of baleen whales, I think of the giants of the sea - blues, fins, seis, humpbacks. Had any ever been kept in an aquarium?
Not as any sort of planned exhibit, no. But there was JJ.
In January, 1997, a very young gray whale was found alone and in distress in the waters off of Los Angeles, California. The female whale - weak, covered with parasites, and wounded all over - was rushed to SeaWorld, in San Diego, the closest facility that had any hope of accommodating such a large patient. No one really expected the little infant to make it - there was very limited experience in keeping gray whales in captivity, and with poor success - but the whale was clearly on death's door, and no other options were available. To the surprise of many, the little (I mean, for a whale) whale rallied. Staff named the days-old cetacean JJ, after a patroness of marine mammal rehab programs.
When it became clear the JJ was, in fact, going to live, the question that arose of what to do with her. The desired outcome would be to release her into the wild, but the question was how best to achieve this. Gray whales are migratory, so the plan was to release her in March, 1998, so that she could join the gray whales as they migrated north past California, hopefully being adopted into their pods. In preparation for her release, staff played recordings of gray whale songs to familiarize JJ with their vocalizations, which ideally would make her seek out the whales and feel safe in their company.
JJ was in SeaWorld's care for 14 months when the time came to release her. At the time of her rescue, she was 4.2 meters long and weighed 758 kilograms. At the time of her rescue, she was being fed a milk formula that SeaWorld concocted, a mix of water, milk powder, whipping cream, and diced fish. She was soon eating 300 kilograms of fish and squid a day. At the time of her release, she was more than double that length, 9.4 meters, and over ten times the weight, 8,700 kilograms, more than a full-grown male African elephant). 900 of those pounds were gained in her first month. She was the largest marine mammal ever to have been kept under human care.
It was recognized the JJ provided scientists with a unique opportunity to learn more about the movements, biology, and social structure of gray whales, so she was fitted with a satellite tracker that ideally would have provided 18 months of data. Unfortunately, it fell off soon after her release (zoos and aquariums often serve as laboratories for testing equipment such as this in controlled conditions before it is deployed in the field... but, sometimes things still fall apart.
For two days scientists tracked JJ's movements from the research ship Megalodon as she swam north, and they liked what they saw. She was in good physical condition, swimming well and in the right direction. She seemed confident and well-adjusted, and making vocalizations; perhaps she heard other gray whales and was calling out to them. When they last saw her, she was heading north, in the direction of the migration.
Decisions about what to do with rescued marine mammals are in the hands of the federal government, so when I see people claim that SeaWorld "fakes" rescues in order to fill their tanks with animals that are deemed non-releasable, I have to shake my head. That's not how this works - it's not their call to make. If I'd had the chance, I would have loved to see JJ before her release. I've seen gray whales in the wild off the California coast, but you gain such a different perspective of a creature like that when you see it in its entirety and are able to really study it, rather than gain a peek above the surface now and then (I'm a poor diver/snorkeler, which also limits my options). If she had stayed in SeaWorld - and that was an option that was discussed, since it was not certain how likely efforts to release her would be to succeed - she would have been a star, the sort of animal that nerds like me would have made pilgrimages to see.
As it was, I'm happy that we got the best possible outcome - she was found when she was, she was rescued, she responded well to captivity, and she was released, apparently successfully. This was almost 30 years ago, and she may yet be alive, swimming out there. Hopefully, the knowledge and experience that was gleaned from her will be useful should another infant whale ever find itself in dire circumstance and be in need of rescue in the future.
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