Houston Chronicle

A baby whale that was found beached on Jamaica Beach and transfered to the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network building, swims in its pool, Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011, in Galveston. Rescuers were struggling to save a new-born sperm whale that washed up on the beach in Galveston early today. The Marine Mammal Stranding Network was asking the U.S. Coast Guard to fly over the Gulf of Mexico in attempt to spot the calf's mother. Network coordinator Heidi Whitehead said the best chance the calf has of surviving is for rescuers to get it back in the ocean and for it to be reunited with its mother. Galveston police officer Joey Quiroga said police and other emergency personnel who arrived on the scene at first thought the calf was injured because they saw blood on its side. But Whitehead said it might be the placenta. Allison Wilkins, 11, said she and her father Keith Wilson found the whale at about 7 a.m. as they walked along the beach just west of Jamaica Beach. "At first I thought it was a piece of plastic," she said. She and her father called her mother, who notified authorities. "It's pretty cool," she said about discovering the whale. ( Michael Paulsen / Houston Chronicle ) (Photo by Michael Paulsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)