Injured North Atlantic right whale calf given antibiotics
Team of experts launches dart of medication in waters off Florida.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Biologists gave antibiotics to an injured North Atlantic right whale calf Wednesday with the hope of staving off infection from boat propeller cuts. The calf’s prognosis remained poor, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The newborn calf was the fourth documented in the warm waters off Florida and Georgia, where the critically endangered right whales migrate for calving and nursing.
The mother, known as Derecha, is a right whale that typically visits Cape Cod Bay in the later winter and spring, as part of the annual migration pattern from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The calf’s wounds were first seen by researchers Jan. 8 off Georgia’s Altamaha Sound by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Over the next two days, teams with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research went out by plane and boat to try to find the mother-and-calf pair to see the calf’s condition, and they spotted the animals Jan. 10.
Medical experts and biologists spent Jan. 11-12 reviewing images and video to continue assessments of the calf’s injury and to determine potential next steps. Based on the images received, the calf’s wounds were worse than originally thought — for example, some of the wounds to the lip may not be repairable, which could make it difficult for the calf to nurse. At that time, the calf’s prognosis was downgraded from “guarded” to “poor.”
On Wednesday, the pair was spotted again. Based on the assessment by the on-site veterinarian, the team determined that antibiotics could benefit the calf.
The calf received nearly 50 milliliters of the long-acting antibiotic Excede delivered by dart launched from a boat about 7 meters away, said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the U.S. Southeast for NOAA Fisheries.
Both mother and calf remained calm throughout the procedure, Zoodsma said.
Biologists will continue to monitor the calf through aerial surveys.
Cuts from boat propellers, strikes by boats and entanglement in commercial fishing rope are causing deaths of right whales to outpace births, according to scientists, who carefully monitor right whale births each year. About 409 right whales remain in what has been a steady decline since at least 2010, according to a federally sponsored computer model released in 2017.
Material from the Savannah Morning News was used in this report.
Treatment options weighed for injured right whale calf
Prognosis for newborn struck by propeller off Georgia downgraded to poor.
Wildlife officials are weighing next steps, including the possible administration of antibiotics, in the treatment of a newborn right whale calf injured by the propeller of a vessel.
The then-week-old calf and its mother, nicknamed Derecha, were first spotted Wednesday off Georgia’s Altamaha Sound by biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Photographs revealed the calf has deep gashes on either side of its head.
Two days later aerial and on-water surveys with the commission and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources spotted the pair again about 12 miles south of St. Simons Island.
Medical experts and biologists spent the weekend reviewing images and video to continue assessments of the injury and prognosis and to determine potential next steps, the National Marine Fisheries Service reported on its website. Based on the images received, they determined the calf’s wounds were worse than originally thought — for example, some of the wounds are to the lip and may not be repairable, leading to impacts on feeding.
They downgraded the calf’s prognosis from “guarded” to “poor,” which means not likely to survive, fisheries service veterinarian Dr. Teri Rowles said.
Most worrisome is the gash on the left side of the calf’s mouth, which appears deep enough to have exposed bone and injure the underlying structure that produces baleen.
“We have seen whales come back from horrific injuries,” she said. “But for an animal this age it’s pretty dramatic.”
Officials with the fisheries service and its state and private collaborators plan to locate the mother and calf pair and obtain images to update the assessment of the calf’s injuries, condition and behavior. Antibiotics may be delivered if warranted.
Such treatment of large whales in the wild is rare, but biologists with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources have experience with operations in which a large whale was sedated and given antibiotics. In 2011, one such operation succeeded in disentangling a 2-year-old right whale after it was sedated.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research, SeaWorld and the International Fund for Animal Welfare are also partners in the effort.
Derecha was first seen in December 1993. She is at least 27 years old. This is her fourth calf; she last gave birth in 2010.
North Atlantic right whales are highly endangered, with only about 400 remaining. Deaths, mainly from ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear, have outpaced births of these bus-sized creatures in recent years.
Female right whales migrate from New England to Georgia and Florida waters to give birth.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement is investigating the vessel strike, said Barb Zoodsma, who oversees the right whale recovery program in the Southeast for the fisheries service.
“It’s safe to say somebody knows they hit a whale,” said Zoodsma, who has interviewed captains who hit whales. One said it felt like he had “run aground hard” and the force sent his wife “flying from stern to bow.”
Zoodsma encourages marine operators to think of the offshore area at this time of year as a school safety zone.
“We have a nursery and kids playing, whale kids,” she said. “The prudent thing is to slow down to 10 knots or less.”
Mother-calf pairs spend the majority of their time at, or a few feet below, the water’s surface in the Southeast. This is a critical and vulnerable time for right whale mothers to bond with their calves — the law requires staying at least 500 yards away by air (including drones) and by sea.
A days-old North Atlantic right whale calf has been severely injured after being struck by a boat’s propellers.
This is the first calf its mother, Derecha, has borne in a decade. And these whales are so critically endangered, the loss of even one calf is a devastating setback for the species.
Fight for endangered whales and other vulnerable animals with an urgent donation to Defenders of Wildlife.
These are the stakes: Fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales are alive today.
News of this injury comes from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which found that the calf had two “parallel and s-shaped” wounds along its body, most likely caused by boat propellers.
Boat strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are among the greatest threats to these docile and slow-moving whales. These threats have slashed the whales’ life expectancy from over 70 years to just 30 years.
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Your urgent support will help us ramp up the campaign to pass the SAVE Right Whales Act, a law that would provide money to invest in technologies to save right whales from being injured and killed by ships and fishing gear. We are also fighting in court to protect right whales from deadly entanglements.
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Photo Credit: Right Whale (c) NOAA Florida Fish & Wildlife
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