Right Whale, Snow Cone Makes It To Cape Cod!

As the right whale calving season came to an early close at the end of February, our minds were on Snow Cone and her new calf. Snow Cone is the only North Atlantic right whale documented that has gone through a pregnancy and birth while entangled in commercial fishing gear. When last spotted in the calving ground, she had rope embedded in her rostrum (top of her head) and through her baleen. Her calf appeared healthy, and she was holding up remarkably well.

On April 23rd and 24th, Snow Cone and her calf were spotted on the Atlantic side of Cape Cod by aerial observers from the Center for Coastal Studies (CCS). She appeared to be actively feeding, and her condition had not noticeably changed. The endangered whale still carries the embedded rope with her, and the CCS disentanglement team is ready to respond if needed. After a northward journey from Florida of more than 1,000 miles over nine weeks, she and her calf safely made it to the feeding grounds with no injuries to report. It is always a relief to see the new calves of the season entering the northeast feeding grounds with their mothers. At least half of this year’s 15 new calves have successfully made the journey.

Report Whale Sightings Toll-Free to 1-888-97-WHALE (1-888-979-4253).

Learn more about the North Atlantic right whales at https://savetheirl.org/science/north-atlantic-right-whale-program/.

Support MRC’s Right Whale Monitoring & Conservation program at http://weblink.donorperfect.com/rightwhales.