When a young North Atlantic right whale died in January, the news got a lot of attention.

Her black skin was puck marked by seagulls, her baline had been dislodged from her mouth.

I mean, she hadn't been dead long, but she was in rough shape.

It's Wednesday, April 3rd, and it's also Science Friday.

Thank you. It's Wednesday, April 3rd, and it's also Science Friday. I'm sci-fi producer Kathleen Davis.

When the whale dubbed 5120 washed up in Martha's Vineyard,

many accused a nearby wind energy project of causing her death,

despite a necropsy report that said otherwise.

Eve Zuckoff, a reporter from public radio station, C.A.I, reported on the ensuing misinformation

campaign and what we actually know about what's putting these whales at risk of extinction.

Here she is with guest host Ariel Duem Ross.

So, Eve, you saw this whale shortly after it washed up on shore. What was that like?

What did you see? Well, when I first saw the whale, she was on her back, this 30-foot-long animal

kind of curled up on the high tide line. Her black skin was pockmarked by seagulls. Her baline had been dislodged from her mouth. I mean, she hadn't been dead long, but she was in rough shape. And there was a clock on the effort to move her carcass to a wooded area where experts could have a dry space to do the post-mortem exam, that necropsy, and establish the cause of death. They decided the best way to move

this whale would be to tie one end of a rope around her tail and have a small boat bring

the other end to a tugboat wading offshore. And once the rope was secure, that tugboat

started revving its engine, trying to drag this 12-ton whale off the beach.

Come on.

Come on.

I watched on the beach with Brian Sharp, the director of a marine mammal rescue program for I-Fall,

the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the tow rope came taut, and then finally...

There it is, there it is.

...