The Georgia Department of Natural Resources discovered an endangered whale off the coast of Savannah, and the rare sighting was even more unusual by the fishing rope caught in the whale’s mouth as the animal gave birth.
It happened near Cumberland Island on Thursday (December 2). Clay George, who serves as a wildlife biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, told the Associated Press that the newborn whale was healthy and was not hurt.
“We haven’t seen a chronically entangled whale come down here from up north and have a calf,” George told the Associated Press. “It’s amazing. But on the other hand, it could ultimately be a death sentence for her.”
“My concern is she’s still got two pieces of rope, about 20 feet, coming out from the left side of her mouth,” he continued, noting that spotters who regularly check the waters each day for whales will also search for the two right whales. “If those two pieces of rope ended up getting knotted around each other and there’s a loop, you could imagine that calf could end up becoming entangled.”
The North Atlantic right whale is considered one of the most endangered large whale species in the world. Fewer than 350 are estimated to remain, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. North Atlantic right whales have been listed as endangered for more than five decades. Find out more about the endangered whale species here.