BOSTON (WHDH) - A young humpback whale rescued off the coast of Boston after it got tangled in fishing gear.
A commercial fisherman spotted the stuck whale and a crew from the Marine Entanglement Response went out to help. Rescuers said the whale had been stuck for more than a week and was exhausted and in a fair amount of pain.
“That rope had dug quite deeply into the whale. We had to find it as quickly as possible without doing harm,” said Scott Landry, the director of the Marine Entanglement Response. Landry said entanglment is a common threat for whales in the North Atlantic.
Landry said he and his crew headed out in an inflatable boat and used small knives at the end of poles to cut the rope. The rescuers do not get into the water during rescues to avoid getting hypothermia.
The whale may take weeks to recover but rescuers said it is expected to be OK.
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