The conservationists in North America are searching for answers on what seemed to be an unprecedented event where a total of six endangered whales were found dead in a period of a few weeks. The North Atlantic right whales that looked healthy previously were discovered dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Canada. The scientists from various departments in Canada are currently working together to find out the cause of death.
An estimate of about 500 North Atlantic right whales are found worldwide, hence the recent deaths are more disturbing. The Right Whales are considered the most uncommon among the whales’ species and according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, there are only 350 individuals existing in the Northwest Atlantic, which was initially a home to thousands of whales.
The first incidence was reported on June 6 where the carcass of the whale was found floating off the coastal line of the Magdalen Islands on the east of New Brunswick. Since then, six North Atlantic right whales have been reported dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The loss amounts to over 1% of the population of the rare species. The bodies of the whales were all found between the New Brunswick’s Miscou Island on the Magdalen Islands and the northern P.E.I.
Although it’s normal to sight a dead right whale in the area, one marine biologist, Tonya Wimmer, stated that the latest trend is at a high scale and that there must be something unusual leading to the unprecedented event.
In the endangered species of animals such as the right whales, the death of even one individual is a huge loss. Out of those reported dead, two were female which makes the matter even more devastating for the conservationists who are committed to the mandates of animal welfares.
According to Wimmer, the right whale species populations have not yet recovered from the previous whaling practices that severely saw the number of the species reducing drastically. They were declared under both the Canadian’s Species at Risk Act and U.S.’s Marine Mammal Protection Act as endangered species.
