FILE - This July 4, 2012, file photo, shows Dennis Christen of the Georgia Aquarium feeding a bottle to a baby beluga calf being rehabilitated at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska. The baby beluga whale that was believed to be just two days old when it was found stranded after a storm near Naknek, Alaska, has died. A team of marine mammal experts provided the young whale with around-the-clock care at the Alaska SeaLife Center. But the center says that despite its best efforts, the whale died early Monday morning, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
FILE - This July 4, 2012, file photo, shows Dennis Christen of the Georgia Aquarium feeding a bottle to a baby beluga calf being rehabilitated at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska. The baby beluga whale that was believed to be just two days old when it was found stranded after a storm near Naknek, Alaska, has died. A team of marine mammal experts provided the young whale with around-the-clock care at the Alaska SeaLife Center. But the center says that despite its best efforts, the whale died early Monday morning, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
This photo taken July 4, 2012, at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, shows Elizabeth Davis from the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, left, and Dennis Christen of the Georgia Aquarium feed a bottle to a baby beluga calf being rehabilitated at the center. The whale was approximately two days old when it was found in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and separated from its mother. Staff from the Alaska SeaLife Center is receiving help with the whale's care from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Shedd Aquarium in ChiCago and SeaWord in San Diego.. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
This photo taken July 4, 2012, at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska, shows a baby beluga calf being rehabilitated at the center. The whale was approximately two days old when it was found in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and separated from its mother. Staff from the Alaska SeaLife Center is receiving help with the whale's care from the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Shedd Aquarium in ChiCago and SeaWord in San Diego.. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
SEWARD, Alaska (AP) ? A baby beluga whale that was believed to be just 2 days old when it was found stranded after a storm in Alaska's Bristol Bay has died at a research aquarium where it received round-the-clock care by a team of marine mammal experts.
Officials at the Alaska SeaLife Center said that despite everyone's best efforts, the whale died early Monday morning after it became evident Sunday that the young whale's condition was declining. A full necropsy was to be performed later Monday.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of this beluga calf," Tara Riemer Jones, the Seward center's president and CEO, said in a statement.
Jones praised the care provided by marine mammal specialist from across the country. She said their knowledge allowed the center to provide the best care possible.
"There is more we will continue to learn about beluga whales as a result of this loss that will ultimately benefit beluga whales in the marine mammal community and in the wild," she said.
The whale is believed to be the first baby beluga to be rescued in the United States since the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972.
The calf was found June 18 near South Naknek. Officials believe a storm likely separated the calf from its mother.
The calf was flown 90 minutes to Seward. In the plane, it was placed on an air mattress and positioned so its weight wouldn't put pressure on vital organs. It was constantly covered with wet towels.
Last week, center officials expressed guarded optimism about the calf's rehabilitation. It was swimming on its own. It was learning to take food from a bottle, which officials said had been challenging. However, it was still in critical care.
The beluga was 5 feet long and weighed 115 pounds, up 5 pounds since its arrival.
Survival odds for an animal this age coming into a stranding program are low, Brett Long, the husbandry director at the center, said at the time.
"We take it a day at a time," he said, adding that the beluga was "maintaining its weight, and we're seeing slow, incremental weight gain."
The biggest worry was the calf's immune system, which was insufficiently developed because it did not receive any of its mother's milk.
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