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Zoë Rauscher — The Kind 50

A young person in a navy beanie, holding a camera, sits on a beach bench with the sea behind them.

safe passage

An aerial view of a right whale mother and her calf near the surface of deep green water.

North Atlantic Right Whales: Callosity Back and Calf
Image by Zoë Rauscher
NOAA Permit #26562
Ormond Beach, Florida
01/07/2026

Two volunteers in high-visibility research vests, seen from behind, watch the surf from a beach.

The North Atlantic right
whale is one of the
world’s most endangered
large whale species.

Among those watching out
for them is Zoë Rauscher,
a volunteer and drone
pilot with the Marineland
Right Whale Project.

A volunteer raises binoculars toward the sea beside a camera on a tripod.
Three smiling volunteers take a selfie on a rock jetty by the sea.

about 380 whales remain

A right whale cut out against the page, its back mottled with pale callosities.

The two leading causes of death are
ship strikes and entanglement in
fishing gear.

A right whale swimming toward the lower right, cut out of its photograph.
A pencil sketch of surface buoys, a fishing ship, lines and two traps on the seabed around the whale.

Surface
buoys

Ships

Lines from
buoys to traps

Lines
between traps

Calving Grounds

Feeding Grounds

A whale’s

journey

  • North Atlantic right whale territories
  • United States critical habitat areas
  • Migration routes

Every year, right whales migrate to northeast Florida to give birth and nurse their calves. There, the project’s 250+ volunteers spot and report them, helping alert ships when whales are nearby.

Two smiling women, one in a blue floral top and one in black, pose close together indoors.

$23K

raised

A wave of

support

Zoë started a GoFundMe with a $15,000 goal to help fund the project’s 2027 season. Donors surpassed it, funding equipment like drones and marine binoculars alongside research, reporting, and administrative costs.

A pencil sketch of an underwater drone with a long antenna, trailing its tether.
A pencil sketch of a white fish-shaped underwater drone with a camera on its nose.

Protect
our planet’s
wildlife

Start a GoFundMe
A pencil-and-watercolour sketch of a pair of marine binoculars.