Entanglements

Sadly whales sometimes become entangled in fishing gear. This young calf has a rope probably from a lobster buoy tightly wrapped around its body. Calves grow rapidly and if this line is not removed, the calf may not survive.

The Center For Coastal Studies in Provincetown on Cape Cod has a program for saving entangled marine mammals. They made several attempts to help this animal. Unfortunately the calf's mother a whale known to scientists as Giraffe was very protective and the efforts met with failure. The gear could fall off by itself. Go to their very fine web page to read more about the center and their program for saving marine mammals.

This calf was named Gills for the black marking on the left fluke. No update on the status after the 2000 season is available. The only way to know the outcome of this story is if the calf is seen and identified as it will no longer be associated with its mother.

Tail Photo This is the photo taken by the Center for Coastal Studies which was used to name this calf.

A Message From Scott Landry

11/30/2000 (Part of a longer message.)

I don't have any good news regarding the calf of Giraffe. We spent the day with them trying our best. Giraffe defended her calf from us until sunset. They were sighted again on the Bank but we decided not to put them through the stress of another rescue attempt. The entanglement was not severe (not life-threatening in the short term) and the stress of approaching them outweighed the risks posed by the fishing gear. They are on a short list of whales we hope to come across during our Stellwagen cruises. At the same time, the calf has likely been weaned by now and many juvenile whales disappear for a few years or are lost to the population. We'll see... The rafts of eiders and scoters have been getting thicker and thicker.