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Rescued whale improving in Keys hotel pool
The beached pygmy sperm whale is rehydrated and in guarded condition in a resort's heated saltwater pool.
©Associated Press
January 26, 2003
ISLAMORADA -- A rescued pygmy sperm whale has survived three days in a resort hotel's heated saltwater pool and is showing signs of improvement, officials said Saturday.
The 11-foot, 1,200-pound pygmy sperm whale, nicknamed Kokomo, has been recovering in a pool at The Islander Resort since Thursday. Officials moved the beached whale to the pool because of the cold.
Kokomo remains in guarded condition but is becoming more active as he is rehydrated, said Rick Trout, director of the Conservancy, a Key Largo organization that coordinates marine mammal rescues in the Florida Keys.
"We've made it to three days for an animal that traditionally comes to the beach to die," Trout said. "So that's good news."
It is unclear whether an injury or a disease caused the whale to beach itself on a Florida Keys sandbar earlier in the week, Trout said.
Medical examinations showed Kokomo was suffering from anemia, severe dehydration and a wound, possibly from a harpoon or gaff, just behind its blow hole.
The whale received supplemental drinks and distilled water to combat dehydration, Maalox to settle its stomach and antibiotics to fight pneumonia and infection.
Trout predicted the whale would need at least three weeks of treatment.
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