Daring rescue of whale off Farallones

Daring rescue of whale off Farallones
Humpback nuzzled her saviors in thanks after they untangled her from crab lines, diver says

Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

A humpback whale freed by divers from a tangle of crab trap lines near the Farallon Islands nudged its rescuers and flapped around in what marine experts said was a rare and remarkable encounter.

"It felt to me like it was thanking us, knowing that it was free and that we had helped it," James Moskito, one of the rescue divers, said Tuesday. "It stopped about a foot away from me, pushed me around a little bit and had some fun."

Sunday's daring rescue was the first successful attempt on the West Coast to free an entangled humpback, said Shelbi Stoudt, stranding manager for the Marine Mammal Center in Marin County.

Full story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL

If anybody ever gets the chance to check it out, do visit the Marine Mammal Center. They run a sort of convalescent hospital for sick and injured pinnipeds and it's really neat both to see the animals up close and know that they're saving lives.

I swear sometimes it's these little stories that give me the strength to soldier on another day.....

To think that such a thing is an oddity, well...it just isn't. No matter how wild, and no matter how removed from any domestication/human contact.

They know.

Great post!

that is a definite high point in those diver's lives.