Whale rescue team removes rope from humpback calf

Published: June 11, 2008 | 7131st good news item since 2003

A team of rescuers successfully removed a 150-foot length of rope that was tangled around the tail of a humpback whale calf.

A spokeswoman for the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies says the calf was first spotted early Sunday afternoon by a whale watching vessel.

The center’s disentangledment team immediately deployed and reached the whale at about 3:30 p.m., 26 miles east of Boston.

The team determined that the rope was wrapped around the fluke, or tail, with 70 to 80 feet of rope trailing, and that it needed to be removed because of its position, the nature of the calf’s wounds and the age of the whale.

The team used a grappling hook and buoy to remove the line while the calf and its mother swam at high speeds and with quick changes in direction.

Published in Animals
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