‘VERY SAD EVENT’

Endangered Baby Whale Found Dead in Florida

There are signs it was hit by a boat, imperiling the effort to save right whales from extinction.

There are only 400 north Atlantic right whales left in existence—making the discovery of a dead baby in Florida all the more upsetting. “This is a very sad event,” Blair Mase of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told the Associated Press. The 2-month-old male whale washed ashore on Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine this weekend, with signs of having been hit by a boat, including propeller wounds to the head and back. “Every mortality that occurs really has a devastating impact on the population as a whole, because they are one of our most critically endangered whales in the world,” Mase said. “Every whale counts.” Since 2017, 33 dead and 13 seriously injured specimens of the whales have been found.