Snow Cone’s back, with rope in tow
Entangled North Atlantic right whale spotted off Cape with calf
The resilient North Atlantic right whale that gave birth in December while entangled in rope has been spotted off Cape Cod with her calf.
Snow Cone and her new offspring were seen over the weekend on the Atlantic Ocean side of the Outer Cape by aerial observers from the Center for Coastal Studies.
The 17 year old whale lost her first calf in 2020 after it was struck by a ship. Then, last year, Snow Cone was entangled in rope and made the 1,300 mile migration south to right whale calving grounds off Georgia, where she gave birth.
Now, this spring, she traveled north with her calf — all while continuing to carry life-threatening rope embedded in her jaw.
“She didn’t look awful, but she is noticeably skinnier,” said Ryan Schosberg, one of the two aerial observers in the airplane on Saturday. “She hadn’t been sighted since being in the southeast about nine weeks ago and we were wondering if she’d come to Cape Cod Bay or if she would pass us by or if we wouldn’t see her again, so it’s a relief that she’s still alive and that her calf looks good.”
Last March, the Center for Coastal Studies’ Marine Animal Entanglement Response team removed 300 feet of rope wrapped around Snow Cone when she was seen off Plymouth before the whale disappeared with line still attached.
Then in May, the Campobello Whale Rescue Team was able to remove more when she was spotted off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. But neither of the two disentanglement operations removed all of the rope.
Scientists have been concerned that Snow Cone’s entanglement could endanger her life because wounds caused by the rope can become infected and result in sepsis. This past December, when she was first seen with her newborn near Georgia, responders determined that trying to remove or shorten the rope would be too dangerous with her calf staying close to her.
Since then, the pair successfully navigated the more than 1,000 mile journey north to Cape Cod.
Center for Coastal Studies researchers saw the first right whale in Cape Cod Bay in late December and by this week, field teams have seen about 221 right whales around Cape Cod Bay on their annual migration north, including some of the 15 new mothers that arrived with calves.
Schosberg said, “We were about 20 to 30 minutes into our flight, traveling on the outside of the Cape, and Brigid (McKenna) was on the right side of the plane when she noticed the rope and we realized it was Snow Cone.”