Don’t know why, but I actually felt a twang of grief when I read this headline in the Chicago Tribune.
Strange. Feel sorry for the little guy.
A male baby beluga whale born in a difficult birth Sunday at the Shedd Aquarium died Tuesday after never establishing a bond with his mother or learning to nurse from her.
"This is an extremely sad day for the Shedd Aquarium family," Ken Ramirez, senior vice president of animal collections, said in a written statment announcing the death.
"Over the past 48 hours we provided round-the-clock care to the calf, and this morning, we became more concerned since he continued to be disoriented in his swimming and still had not reached two critical milestones of bonding with mom and nursing.
"Based on our knowledge of a healthy calf, we knew something was wrong."
The statement did not give details of where or when the calf died but said that his 20-year-old mother, Naya, is in good health and remains under 24-hour-a-day observation by the marine mammal staff.
Read more here. And hug your pet goldfish.
Or something like that.