The carcass of a critically endangered whale species was towed to shore on Thursday after it was found floating approximately 20 miles off the coast of Georgia, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The North Atlantic right whale was found off Tybee Island – east of Savannah – and was identified as a female born last year, the NOAA said.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokesman Tyler Jones said the whale’s body was heavily scavenged by sharks, but scientists were hoping a necropsy would be able to determine how it died.
“It’s going to be a challenge to determine the cause of death because it’s been so heavily predated and decayed,” Jones said.
ANOTHER DEAD WHALE BEACHES IN MARYLAND AMID RAPID OFFSHORE WIND DEVELOPMENT
The discovery of the whale carcass floating off the Georgia coast comes more than two weeks after another young female right whale was found dead off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, on Jan. 28. A necropsy of that whale found rope embedded in its tail similar to a type used in commercial fishing gear, the NOAA said.
“The death of two juvenile North Atlantic whales within three weeks of each other is heartbreaking and preventable,” Kathleen Collins, senior marine campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said in statement to the AP on Thursday. “The right whale graveyard off our eastern seaboard continues to grow and inaction from the administration is digging the graves.”
UPTICK IN DEAD WHALES ALONG EAST COAST SPARKS INTENSE DEBATE AMONG ENVIRONMENTALISTS OVER OFFSHORE WIND
Female right whales make their way to the warmer parts of the Atlantic Ocean – off the southeastern coast of the U.S. – during the winter to give birth, but are vulnerable to collisions with ships and entanglements with fishing gear because they swim close to the surface.
Elevated fatalities and injuries in the species have been recorded since 2017, and the two recent deaths bring the total number of fatalities…
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