Ocean Sentry
Scientists for the first time successfully used sedatives to free a whale entangled in rope off Florida”s Atlantic Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says scientists freed the right whale Friday near Ponce Inlet, south of Daytona Beach.
The whale was first sighted in January off Georgia. Officials removed some rope then, but the whale remained entangled. Scientists tried four more times, but the whale proved too evasive.
On Friday, they used sedation to calm it and successfully removed most of the remaining rope.
They say it was the first time a large whale was successfully sedated in the wild and freed from most of its entanglement. North Atlantic right whales are among the most endangered species with up to 400 remaining in the wild.
(From orlandosentinel.com, Daytona Beach, Florida)
