If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on December
14, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become
entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines.
She
was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to
stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her
body, her tail, her torso, and a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands
(outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group, the Marine Mammal
Center, for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined
that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle
her - a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could easily kill a
rescuer.
The divers worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When
she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She
then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed
gently around-she thanked them.
Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The
guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole
time, and he will never be the same.
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