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Man and THE WHALE
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If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle,
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 lie
rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, 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 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 kill a rescuer.
They 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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