Update on North Atlantic Right Whale necropsy
From left to right: Laura Bourque, Hanna Ruark, Megan Jones, Amanda Clark, and Tessa McBurney. Photo courtesy of Marine Animal Response Society (MARS).
On June 7, 2019, teams from Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Atlantic and Quebec nodes, participated in a necropsy on an North Atlantic Right Whale on Miscou Island, NB. The juvenile male right whale had been observed dead on June 4, 2019, in the Gulf of St Lawrence, and was subsequently towed to Miscou Island by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Dave McRuer and Megan Jones.
Laura Bourque, Amanda Clark and Hanna Ruark taking measurements.
Teams from CWHC Atlantic (Dr. Laura Bourque (lead pathologist on the case), Dr. Megan Jones, Dr. Pierre-Yves Daoust, Dr. Dave McRuer (CWHC Associate and Parks Canada Wildlife Health Specialist), Tessa McBurney, summer students Amanda Clark and Hanna Ruark and from CWHC Quebec (Dr. Stéphane Lair, Viviane Casaubon,Sarah Boisisio, Dr. Marion Jalenques), worked with teams from the Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), and other organizations to complete the necropsy.
Pierre-Yves Daoust and Stéphane Lair
The necropsy took approximately 9.5 hours to perform (including a long list of measurements) and many samples were taken for further analysis in the laboratory. Final results for large whale necropsies often take several weeks to months until completion.
Submitted by:
Megan Jones
CWHC-Atlantic
