Canadians welcome U.S. whale experts’ help

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BOSTON – Canadian officials said they would welcome the help of American whale experts as they attempt to rescue an endangered North American right whale entangled in fishing line. “When it comes to rescuing these magnificent creatures, borders are irrelevant,” Carl Myers, a spokesman for…
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BOSTON – Canadian officials said they would welcome the help of American whale experts as they attempt to rescue an endangered North American right whale entangled in fishing line.

“When it comes to rescuing these magnificent creatures, borders are irrelevant,” Carl Myers, a spokesman for the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, told the Boston Herald.

Myers said David Mattila and Charles “Stormy” Mayo of the Provincetown-based Center for Coastal Studies were expected to spearhead a rescue effort off the coast of Nova Scotia as early as this weekend. They will work with Canada’s own disentanglement team aboard Canadian Coast Guard vessels.

Teri Frady of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the American team ordered a new supply of sedatives and was packing gear Wednesday. Team members are waiting for good weather conditions as well as a better sense of where the whale is headed.

“The whale really has to settle in somewhere before we’ll be ready to go,” she said.

The whale was tracked Wednesday to a point 60 miles from Sable Island, Nova Scotia.

Since the whale, named “Churchill,” was spotted June 8 off Cape Cod, rescuers have approached it five times, twice attempting to sedate it so the marine line embedded in its upper jaw can be removed.


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