Harbour porpoise rescued in 2008 dies at Vancouver Aquarium

VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Aquarium says a harbour porpoise that died in its care on Thursday had a pulmonary disease, based on preliminary necropsy results.

"Daisy" was just a month old when rescued by the aquarium in 2008.

The aquarium says the preliminary necropsy results suggest the porpoise had pulmonary disease.

It had been receiving around-the-clock care after changes in its behaviour were noticed earlier this month.

The aquarium is now left with only two cetaceans: a Pacific white-side dolphin and a false killer whale.

The death came on the same day aquarium officials applied for a judicial review aimed at overturning a park board bylaw banning whales, dolphins and porpoises from its facility in Stanley Park.

The aquarium claims in its petition to the B.C. Supreme Court that the park board doesn't have the statutory power to enact the bylaw, that board commissioners refused to hear from aquarium officials and that the decision renders a $100 million aquarium upgrade obsolete.

The aquarium said it had already spent $45 million of public and private funding on the upgrade.