A whale killed a man from Canada who worked to rescue the animal from being entangled by fishing nets.
The man, Joe Howlett, was the founder of Campobello Whale Rescue and was also a lobster fisherman, Fox News reported. He had worked to rescue whales for 15 years and was on a rescue mission with Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans when the accident occurred.
Captain and co-founder of the rescue group Mackie Greene said that the North American right whale flipped oddly after being freed from entanglement and his body crashed into Howlett’s, causing his death, Fox reported. The New York Times reported that it was the first human fatality reported by the Atlantic Large Whale Disentanglement Network, which consists of trained responders working along the east coast of Canada and the U.S.
DFO Minister Dominic LeBlanc released a statement calling Howlett "an irreplaceable member of the whale rescue community" CBS News reported.
LeBlanc also said there are "serious risks involved with any disentanglement attempt," and that "entangled whales can be unpredictable," CBS News reported. Howlett had helped free over 20 whales during his time with the rescue group, including one as recently as July 5.
Only about 500 North American right whales are left in the wild, making the species one of the world’s most endangered, CBS News reported. At least six of the whales have died recently, some as a result of entanglement.
Twitter users shared varied opinions of the events.
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