On Thursday, October 5th, 2017, I attended (by phone) the Media Advisory - Technical briefing: Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative report - Incident Report: North Atlantic Right Whale Mortality Event in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 2017. Here is the report: http://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/right_whales.php Notable points: Pg. 27: "There are no indications that vessel traffic in 2017 was significantly different than 2016 or previous years nor that pattern of use deviated from previously observed." Pg. 16: "... involvement of an infectious disease in this mortality event is unlikely ..." UNLIKELY? That is CLEARLY an opinion. Pg. 16: "Trauma caused by human interaction, particularly vessel collision, has been a major cause of mortality in the population of North Atlantic right whales (Laist et al. 2001; Moore et al. 2004). Campbell-Malone et al. (2008)." These sources were PRIOR to Zika and Wolbachia-infected Aedes releases. Can we not look at the phylogenetics of Zika, a novel pathogen, for a moment? Whales have suffered West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis viruses and Zika shares this clade with over 97 percent support. Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01248/full N.A. right whales have been spotted as far south as the Bahamas and Mexico. They often have mouth abrasions. There are multiple ways Zika and/or Wolbachia could be infecting them. Mosquito bites are merely ONE way. Dr. Mona Nemer says: "Science is not about beliefs and opinions." Well, here's a question based on facts: why isn't anyone looking into what Wolbachia-infected Aedes releases are doing to our food chain and specifically vertebrates? Are we going to foolishly cling to Hertig's 1936 results on mice and chicken embryos? Or, are we going to acknowledge and devote resources to testing vertebrates (including humans) for the presence of Wolbachia? Because here are facts that are being willfully ignored: The direct effect of Wolbachia can either impede or promote the pathogen's replication and survival (Zug and Hammerstein, 2015). Examples of neutral or pro-pathogenic effect of Wolbachia include: Brugia pahangi (Dutton and Sinkins, 2005); Japanese encephalitis (JE) Virus (Tsai et al., 2006); Drosophila C Virus (Osborne et al., 2009); and Plasmodium gallinaceum (Baton et al., 2013). Wolbachia Enhances West Nile Virus (WNV) Infection in the Mosquito Culex tarsalis: http://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0002965 Zika Virus in Salivary Glands of Five Different Species of Wild-Caught Mosquitoes from Mexico: http://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/19/151951 Both Wolbachia and Zika are maternally inherited. This reproductive parasite (Wolbachia) and the Zika virus are in the eggs and larvae of mosquitoes which copepods and krill feed on. Some species only partially eat Aedes larvae causing their contents to spill out into sea water. Over 28,000 cases of Zika were reported in Puerto Rico as of Oct. 26th, 2016. The waters surrounding many islands in the Caribbean are obviously teeming with Zika-infected Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, eggs, and larvae. Testing for Zika should be a no-brainer to any seasoned pathologist. The ONLY conclusion that can solidly be drawn from this pathology report: TWO whales out of 15 died from entanglement. And I challenge ANY pathologist to look at the evidence. I was there in the media conference by phone. And Dr. Daoust was given ample notice of my concerns the night before (and months earlier). The gist: Out of 15 dead whales, one to two appear to have died from entanglements. The four or five attributed to blunt trauma based on "severe internal bleeding" could also be caused by infections or bleeding in transport or even foul play. When I asked Dr. Daoust about Zika, WNV, SLEV, and Wolbachia, he replied that these whales were in various states of decomposition, downplayed the likelihood of a mosquito biting them, and therefore these were not even considered or tested for. And, I do not understand why Tonya Wimmer has changed her story. Initially she stated: "There is nothing on them. There doesn't seem to be anything apparent from the outside." Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/six-dead-right-whales-1.4176832 We demand all testing be done on future North Atlantic right whales that are ill, entangled, or dead (in a timely fashion) and that ALL tests be conducted including: Zika, Wolbachia, West Nile virus, and St. Louis encephalitis virus. My reference-based article (devoted to these whales) has been updated and includes 24 citations: http://www.infobarrel.com/Test_North_Atlantic_Right_Whales_for_WNV_SLEV_ZIKA_and_Wolbachia P.S. It was an insult to the memory of Joe Howlett to NOT test these whales for every possible pathogen based on your sole opinion that it was UNLIKELY they would be suffering from an encephalitis virus (ZIKV, WNV, SLEV) and Wolbachia infections. Authors note: I cannot use italics or hyperlink. Ergo, links are not hidden and I used caps for emphasis. How your signature helps: each time a supporter signs our petition, an email is automatically sent directly to those being petitioned (governments, companies and individuals). When hundreds or even thousands of emails arrive in their inboxes, our message is impossible to ignore.