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Cape Town – A juvenile humpback whale was freed after it became entangled in fishing rope and lines, anchoring it to the seabed off Simon’s Town, the SA Whale Disentanglement Network said on Friday.
The animal was swimming in circles, and diving for up to five minutes to try and to avoid its rescuers when they arrived to help it on Thursday, SAWDN spokesperson Craig Lambinon said.
It had a rope through its mouth, another rope around a flipper, and a bundle of line trailing underneath it. One line from this bundle anchored it to the seabed.
When night fell, the team decided to return on Friday morning.
A larger humpback whale was circling while the operation was in progress.
SAWDN volunteers managed to attach a buoy to one of the lines, which brought the whale to the surface and seemed to calm it down. This allowed for closer inspection of the entanglement.
They managed to free it and it swam off.
