PBS高端访谈:白鲸幼崽搁浅兽医展开救援行动（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to a NewsHour Shares, a story that caught our eye. It's very rare for a beluga whale calf to become separated from its mother. So, when a team of veterinarians discovered one on a rocky Alaska beach, they went into overdrive to save the endangered whale, whose numbers have been declining in Cook Inlet. From Alaska Public Media, Valerie Kern sent this profile of the woman who led the rare rescue.

DR.CARRIE GOERTZ, Director of Animal Health, Alaska SeaLife Center: I was actually out in the Cook Inlet doing a necropsy of another beluga whale, and part of the team wound up leaving the area when they spotted what they at first thought was another carcass. And so they went to check it out. And lo and behold, it was a live calf. Their first response was to try and see whether it would go back into the water, but, unfortunately, it wouldn't. My name is Carrie Goertz. I'm the director of animal health care at the Alaska SeaLife Center. We primarily care for seals and otters, as well as walrus. So it's very unusual for us to have a beluga here. And there have only been a few other beluga calves in North America that have come in for rehabilitation. Initially, just like with any kind of sick person, he was rather punky and didn't have a whole lot of energy. He obviously did damage to some of his muscles, just bruising and whatnot from laying on a beach, rather than floating in the water. And he did have pneumonia. Fortunately, for this calf, we felt that he had been with mom for a little while, so he got that initial burst of antibodies and good stuff from mom. And he also had learned some behaviors. Like, he knew how to suckle and he very quickly learned to suckle from a bottle. And so that helped him out in particular. The aquaria in the Lower 48 have been extremely generous, sending staff and helping in numerous ways.

JESSE CILETTI, Trainer, Mystic Aquarium: Yes, made it all the way over. We had to check him out. My name is Jesse. I'm from Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. I'm a trainer of cetaceans and pinnipeds there. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is my first day in with him in the water, and it's amazing. The trust that he has for us and the willingness for him to come over, not only for his bottle, but for tactile and just that interaction, is awesome.

DR.CARRIE GOERTZ: Over time, we have been able to let him spend more time on his own.

He also -- we can tell he's -- when he's moving his head, he's working on his echolocation and exploring. And he certainly interacts a lot with people and play with them. Caring for stranded animals, it's an opportunity to learn about the species and the pressures going on in the population in the wild. This is the first beluga from Cook Inlet that we have been able to do a hearing test on. But it's also important for the greater population, for scientists and resource managers, because one of the concerns of what might be a pressure to the Cook Inlet beluga whales is their ability to hear in what's a very noisy environment. So, having that information will help scientists better understand potential impacts to the population. There has been interest across the nation, and we will probably be talking about him for a very long time.

JUDY WOODRUFF: When the young calf is healthy enough, he will be moved to a new facility, but will not return to the ocean, since he's become dependent on humans for survival.

茱蒂·伍德瑞夫：现在我们来看NewsHour Shares，有一个故事引起了我们的注意。白鲸幼崽与母亲分开实为罕见。所以，当一头白鲸幼崽在阿拉斯加州的一个岩石海滩被一行兽医发现时，他们迅速介入，拯救这一濒危物种，该物种在库克湾的数量一直呈下降趋势。阿拉斯加公共传媒，瓦莱丽·科恩勾画了这一领导此次罕见救援的女性形象。

阿拉斯加海洋中心的动物保健主任卡丽·戈茨医生：当时我其实是在库克湾为另一头白鲸做尸检，然后团队部分人员收尾，准备离开这片区域，这时他们发现了他，起初他们认为这是另一具白鲸尸体。所以他们去检查。然后，真想不到，他还活着。他们的第一反应是试探他是否还会回到水中，但是，不幸的是，他没有。我叫卡丽·戈茨。我是阿拉斯加海洋中心的动物保健主任。我们主要负责海豹和水獭，还有海象。所以这次我们在这里遇到一头白鲸，这是很不寻常的。之前，只有几头北美洲的白鲸，来这里进行过康复疗养。最初，就像任何生病的动物一样，他身体很弱，没什么精神。他显然有一些肌肉损伤，只是擦伤和诸如此类的，因为之前躺在沙滩上，而没有漂浮在水中。他确实有肺炎。幸运的是，对于这只白鲸幼崽，我们感觉他和妈妈在一起有段日子了，所以他从妈妈那里已经获得了最初的抗体和（其他一些）好东西。他也学到了一些行为。比如，他知道如何吸吮，他很快学会了如何吮吸奶瓶。所以这对他尤其有帮助。Lower 48的水族馆非常慷慨，他们派来了工作人员，给了我们许多帮助。

神秘水族馆的教练杰西·奇莱蒂：是的，从头帮到尾。我们得去看看他。我叫杰西。我来自康涅狄格州的神秘水族馆。我是一名鲸目动物和鳍足类动物教练。这绝对是一个千载难逢的机会。这是我和他在水里共度的第一天，真是太棒了。他对我们的信任以及他来到这里的愿望，不仅仅是为了他的奶瓶子，也是为了接触与彼此的互动，这真是太棒了。

卡丽·戈茨医生：随着时间的推移，我们已经能够让他花更多的时间进行独处。他也——我们可以看到他——当他晃动头部，他在努力定位和探索。他当然也和人们有很多互动，和人们一起玩。照顾搁浅的动物，是一个了解该物种的机会，也能借此了解该种群在野外环境中所承受的压力。这是来自库克湾的第一头白鲸，我们已能为他做一个听力测试。但对于更大的种群，对于科学家和资源管理者来说，这也很重要，因为库克湾白鲸所承受压力的一个方面来源于他们需要在极度嘈杂的环境中保持听力。因此，掌握这些信息将有助于科学家们更好地了解，这些种群所受到的潜在影响。全国各地都有人对此感兴趣，我们很可能在未来很长一段时间内，对他加以谈论。

茱蒂·伍德瑞夫：当白鲸幼崽恢复健康后，他就要搬到一个新的地方，但是他不会重回海洋，因为他的生存已对人类形成了依赖。