Dramatic rescue to free whale is caught on camera

This incredible rescue effort to free a humpback whale after being trapped in nearly a kilometer of fishing rope was caught on camera.

A group of recreational boaters spotted the whale tangled in the fishing line and weighed down by prawn traps near Powell River, off the B.C. coast. They caught sight of the whale struggling to breathe and acted fast, reporting the issue to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) late Sunday evening.

Paul Cottrell from the DFO, told CTV News: “They [the recreational boat crew] saw this humpback, which they thought was really neat, but then quickly realized this animal was in distress and it wasn’t moving.”

Early the next day, the rescue team set out to locate the whale and set it free. They used their GoPro Camera to capture the hours-long task.

“It was basically hog-tied. [The rope] was around the tail, all the way up, and through the mouth,” Cottrell told CTV News.

The team of volunteers and department staff began cutting through the ropes, making their way towards the tail. Miraculously, the injured whale was finally set free and swam away.

“It was one of the worst entanglements I’ve ever seen,” Cottrell told the news outlet. “The animal would have died.”

The good news is that the number of whale sightings have risen but unfortunately so too has the number of entanglement incidents, reports CTV News. Whale watching companies have reported successfully sightings as of late but the risks of these animals coming into contact with man-made traps remains high.

In this case, the boaters that spotted the whale did the right thing by calling the DFO instead of trying to free the animal themselves.