Stranded Right Whale

This past winter a Right Whale stranded on Shark Island which is right off Cape Lookout near Beaufort, NC.

We were asked to get some additional tissue samples after the necropsy(autopsy for an animal) had been completed. The whale seemed to have been entangled and also to have a curvature of the spine. It was thought to be a 2 year old male. Where it had stranded was a very tricky site only accessible by boat and only at a certain tide.

The first picture shows how even though we mourn the loss of the whale, the seagulls remind us, as we arrive, that nothing is wasted.

Keith and Duck, a volunteer, work at getting the samples as they stand with chilly ocean above their knees.

They returned successful.

The good news is that this year there was the highest number of Atlantic Right Whale calves born in the last number of years. They are very endangered.

photos by Brooks