UF team responds to rare right whale stranding

A group of University of Florida volunteers experienced what may well have been a once in a lifetime event by responding to a live right whale stranding incident Feb. 3 at Amelia Island, Fla.

Although ultimately the young whale died, a necropsy was subsequently performed at UF, allowing veterinarians, biologists and others with multiple agencies the opportunity to learn more about the most endangered cetacean species in U.S. waters.

Northern Atlantic right whales were hunted in the past to the brink of extinction. Today the right whale is threatened by ship strikes, fishing nets, and habitat loss. Fewer than 350 remain in the North Atlantic Ocean.

“This neonatal whale, which we think was about 48 hours old, was found at dawn by beach walkers and reported to local agencies,” said Kendal Harr, D.V.M., who works with the UF College of Veterinary Medicine’s marine mammal program and coordinates the stranding response team.

She said the baby whale had somehow separated from its mother and stranded itself on the beach.

“We received a call from the government agencies at 10:30 a.m., and subsequently responded to back up Sea World’s veterinarians,” Harr said. “The College of Veterinary Medicine was able to provide a stock of potentially needed Beuthanasia solution that no other agency in Florida could have provided.”

Veterinarians on the scene were unable to successfully administer certain drugs through an IV catheter, so they attempted to treat the whale with intramuscular drugs, Harr said.

Meanwhile, a right whale had been spotted swimming a few miles to the north.

“It will never be known if that whale was the mother, but the intent was to attempt to reconcile the two animals by helicopter,” Harr said.

The calf died before this could happen.

Uniting the two whales would have been a significant conservation effort had the whale lived, said Robert Bonde, a UF graduate student and a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Bonde has spearheaded response efforts for the Southeastern U.S. Marine Mammal Stranding Network for 25 years.

"It was a little more rewarding to see a live whale on the beach rather than a dead smelly one,” Bonde said. “Mother Nature is telling you this animal is not fit to live, and we’re interjecting ourselves heroically, but morally we feel we have an obligation to help, especially with right whales because they are such a highly endangered species.”

The newborn whale weighed approximately 3,500 pounds and is larger than most facilities could support, said Bonde, who was one of the 20 or so people who participated in the whale’s necropsy at UF.

“For the people there, just to see a fresh baleen whale was a unique experience itself,” Bonde said.

No one has ever before drawn blood from a North Atlantic right whale, he added.

“We were able to obtain tissue samples that are very valuable in the scope of things before the whale died,” Bonde said. “Then after it died, the people from the National Marine Fisheries organization were able, under rigid collection protocols, to obtain additional samples that will be archived with the national tissue bank.”

Harr said the reason why the whale separated from its mother and stranded may never be known.

“Obviously there was poor mother-calf interaction,” she said.

Pathologists found during the necropsy that the line between the bladder and the umbilicus had never closed, a condition known as patent urachus.

“Since we’ve never seen a neonatal right whale like this, however, we don’t know if this finding is unusual or not,” Harr said.

Among the agencies represented in the stranding response aside from Sea World of Florida and UF were the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the New England Aquarium.

Participating in the necropsy from UF were Mitchell Troutman, D.V.M., and John Roberts, D.V.M., faculty anatomical pathologists, Jen Maners, D.V.M. anatomical pathology resident, and Harr, a clinical pathologist.

Teri Rowles, D.V.M., program manager for NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources, drove down from Charleston, S.C. to participate as well.

“All of our findings are preliminary at this point,” Harr said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to draw some conclusions within the next couple of months to make our findings complete.”

Charles Courtney, D.V.M., Ph.D., associate dean for research and graduate studies, called the whale specimen “rare as moon rocks.”

“What was especially unique about this specimen was its pristine condition,” Courtney said. “It came to our necropsy facility freshly dead in cool weather, which allowed for unbelievably high quality pathologic specimens to be taken.”

Courtney added that UF’s new stranding response team “did a great job and was able to contribute in a meaningful way.”

Newly hired pathologist John Roberts said one of the reasons he was attracted to the job at Florida was the opportunity to work with its strong wildlife program.

“I was amazed by the level of time-acquired expertise that was assembled on instant notice,” Roberts said.