Critically Endangered Right Whale Gave Birth Entangled in Fishing Rope, Researchers Find

Wildlife biologists made a shocking discovery this month involving acritically endangered North Atlantic right whale.

According toThe Associated Press, on Thursday, researchers performing an aerial survey spotted a North Atlantic right whale dragging fishing rope tangled around its mouth swimming with a newborn calf in the waters outside Cumberland Island, Georgia.

This sighting confirmed that the mother whale — which scientists spotted entangled earlier this year but couldn’t free — gave birth to her calf while trapped in the rope.

Clay George, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resource, told the AP that the newborn whale appeared healthy in the researchers' survey. This calf marks the second confirmed North Atlantic right whale birth during the species' current calving season, which typically runs from December through March.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources/AP/Shutterstock

“We haven’t seen a chronically entangled whale come down here from up north and have a calf,” George told AP. “It’s amazing. But on the other hand, it could ultimately be a death sentence for her.”

Trained responders in a boat approached the mother whale and calf on Thursday to determine if experts could free the mature whale from the remaining rope. Experts deemed the situation too unsafe, for both humans and whales, to attempt. Researchers, who check the right whale’s migratory water daily during calving season, plan to keep an eye on the mother and calf.

source: people.com