Birth of baby dolphin in jeopardy
Hana's labour taking too long without her calf emerging
Hana rests in a Vancouver Aquarium pool yesterday after an ultrasound test.
Hana rests in a Vancouver Aquarium pool yesterday after an ultrasound test.
Jack Keating, The Province
Published: Thursday, June 08, 2006
Vancouver Aquarium staff were anticipating last night that Hana the dolphin's calf would be born dead.
"The odds are not good," said veterinarian Dave Huff.
"Basically the mom's health is really important now.
"What that means is if she has a dead calf in there, we want to get it out as quickly as possible."
Hana, the 11-year-old Pacific white-sided dolphin, went into labour about 9 a.m. yesterday.
The calf's tail should have "almost immediately" emerged but didn't.
Huff said he became alarmed when Hana discharged a "tremendous volume of what's called afterbirth or fetal membranes."
"And that was the first thing that was unusual," he said.
"She went on and on and on just passing out more fetal membranes in volumes unlike we had seen with previous calves."
Hana was moved to the medical pool and an ultrasound showed "a pretty fully developed calf," said Huff. "It's pointed in the right direction, tail first, but it's just not moving. There's nothing happening."
Hana was injected with oxytocin, a hormone that induces labour.
"The labour is progressing," said aquarium spokeswoman Brenda Jones at press time. "At this point we see tail flukes from the calf."
Jones said it was "not very likely" the calf was alive "because a normal birth would be in 90 minutes to two hours."
Officials did not know Hana was pregnant when she arrived at the aquarium in October from Japan along with another dolphin named Helen.
Both had been treated at a Japanese aquarium after becoming entangled in fishing nets at sea.
Kelly Bunting, spokeswoman for the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, said there are problems with births in captivity.
"This dolphin was transported [by airplane] while she was pregnant," she said. "They didn't know she was pregnant. So that's incredibly stressful. And to be in a salt tank like that is incredibly stressful."
Aquarium president John Nightingale said: "Things are born and sometimes things die, and that's life.
"But we work really hard on our planning and do what we can for the animals. So, my first concern is for Hana and that she comes through this OK."
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Dolphin gives birth to dead calf
Tearful staff focused on keeping mother Hana alive
Hana rests in a Vancouver Aquarium pool yesterday after an ultrasound test.
Hana rests in a Vancouver Aquarium pool yesterday after an ultrasound test.
Jack Keating, with a file from Peter Severinson, The Province
Published: Thursday, June 08, 2006
Hana the dolphin's calf was born dead at the Vancouver Aquarium last night.
Hana went into labour at about 9 a.m. and the calf's tail should have emerged "almost immediately," but didn't, said veterinarian Dave Huff.
The focus quickly turned to Hana, who aquarium staff realized might die in the difficult birth.
The calf would have been the first dolphin born in the aquarium's 50-year history.
Huff said he became alarmed when Hana discharged a "tremendous volume of what's called afterbirth or fetal membranes."
"And that was the first thing that was unusual.
"She went on and on and on just passing out more fetal membranes, in volumes unlike we had seen with previous calves."
Hana, an 11-year-old Pacific white-sided dolphin, was moved to the medical pool and an ultrasound showed "a pretty fully developed calf," said Huff.
It was pointed in the right direction, tail first, but not moving.
Hana was injected with oxytocin, a hormone that induces labour.
Staff veterinarian Martin Haulena said he reached into the birth canal at 4:30 p.m. and felt the baby, who wasn't moving. The dead calf was born at 7:30 p.m. It likely died several days ago.
Staff were in tears, Haulena said, but there was also some relief because Hana seems to be unharmed.
"It's not a great day, but I think people are really happy that Hana's OK," he said.
"It could have been bad."
Officials did not know Hana was pregnant when she arrived at the aquarium in October from Japan along with another dolphin named Helen.
Both had been treated at a Japanese aquarium after becoming entangled in fishing nets at sea.
Kelly Bunting, spokeswoman for the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, said there are more problems with birth in captivity.
"This dolphin was transported [by airplane] while she was pregnant," she said. "They didn't know she was pregnant. So that's incredibly stressful."
Annelise Sorg of No Whales in Captivity pointed out that three orcas born at the aquarium died in the '90s and two beluga calves have died.
Said aquarium president John Nightingale: "Things are born and sometimes things die and that's life.
"But we work really hard on our planning and do what we can for the animals. So, my first concern is for Hana and that she comes through this OK."