01 July, 2017
Marine mammal experts are examining a dead North Atlantic right whale today after it was pulled ashore in P.E.I.in a bid to determine what killed it and several other whales in recent weeks.
Researchers hope to find reason for right whale deaths as they prepare to tow carcass to P.E.I.
Teams from various organizations were assembling in the area Wednesday and work on the necropsy is expected to start Thursday, the organization said in a statement.
The carcasses of the whales had been seen floating near the Magdalen Islands.
Tonya Wimmer of the Marine Animal Response Society said time is of the essence. "They will go through it very systematically to figure out what it could have been caused by", she said.
On Friday, Pierre-Yves Daoust of Charlottetown's Atlantic Veterinary College said the first necropsy performed showed signs of blunt trauma, consistent with a ship strike.
There are only about 500 of the North Atlantic right whales in existence.
There are only 525 of these whales, who can live 80 years.
