She had been stuck in Sydney Harbor for 10 p.m., an “extremely rare” occurrence, as Jessica Fox of the Organization for Cetacean Research and Conservation in Australia explains. This humpback whale was finally released after being entangled in fishing nets and buoys. Rescue services in Australia's largest city received a call this Thursday afternoon reporting the presence of a trapped cetacean and launched operations to help it.
Efforts by the city described as "incredible" to save the mammal, as rescuers followed the whale aboard an inflatable boat and used specialized equipment to keep it from moving while they freed it from trash. Released shortly before noon this Friday (2 a.m. GMT), the animal quickly moved out to sea.
It “is not uncommon” for a whale to enter Sydney Harbor. Another difficult rescue, which ultimately ended well, had already taken place last June: a humpback whale of around 18 m, caught in nearly 800 kg of fishing equipment, had been saved off the coast of Gippsland, in the State of Victoria (Australia). “It's not uncommon for a whale to enter Sydney Harbor - they pop their heads in from time to time, but to have one entangled in Sydney Harbor is extremely curious,” Jessica Fox said.
Nets regularly trap marine animals in a random manner. Queensland's shark nets, for example, captured 7,808 non-target animals, including 734 protected species between 2013 and 2014, Sea Shepherd says. And for decades, the humpback whale, highly prized for its meat, leather or blubber, was hunted: the species was close to extinction until international protection measures were put in place in 1965. At one time, there were only 1,500 humpback whales left in Australia. Their number now exceeds 4,000 and this marine animal has since been removed from Australia's endangered species list.
