Updated at 5:10 p.m., Sunday, February 25, 2007
Entangled whale rescued off Lana'i
Associated Press
A humpback whale has been freed of several hundred feet of rope wrapped around its tail, which could have killed the young mammel, marine mammal rescue specialists said.The Friday rescue off Lana'i was the sixth so far during the humpback whale season in Hawai'i.
The whale was sighted by a rafting tour vessel whose crew waited for about two hours before a research boat from the Dolphin Institute could take over off the east side of Lana'i.
"From the images, it may not look bad, but from our experience, this rope was wrapped really tight around the whales peduncle and tail," said David Mattila, rescue coordinator with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. "It would have killed it if we had not gotten the rope off."
Information from The Maui News at
