Four-day rescue frees entangled whale

Crew had to make 50 cuts to get ropes, fishing gear off of exhausted humpback near B.C. coast

- NONO SHEN

Fisheries Department rescuers said the humpback whale had been trapped within the fishing ropes for months, and "its mouth was closed with two wraps around the head."

A humpback whale was so entangled in fishing gear, ropes and buoys that it took four days for a Fisheries Department crew to unravel the mess.

Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal co-ordinator with the department, said the rescue off British Columbia’s coast between Prince Rupert and Haida Gwaii was one of the longest he had experienced.

It was clear the whale had been trapped within the ropes for months, said Cottrell.

“We didn’t even know how to start on this animal because it was so constricted,” Cottrell said.