Animal activists say Senate omnibus bill condemns right whale to extinction

Provision allows Maine's lobster industry to continue using fishing gear that maims the species, often fatally, until 2028

Animal protectionists are accusing Democrats in the US Senate of selling out the critically endangered northern right whale by including a provision in a year-end funding bill that would allow Maine's lobster industry to continue using fishing gear that maims the species, often fatally, until at least 2028.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, an unprecedented right whale policy rider inserted by Democratic senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Patrick Leahy of Vermont into the omnibus funding budget released on Tuesday effectively condemns the right whale to extinction.