Whale Saved From Netting

A humpback whale that was discovered tangled in netting has been rescued, and is expected to make a full recovery.

RÚV reports that the whale was freed from the netting at about 11 o’clock this morning. Despite considerable entanglement, experts who arrived on the scene were able to cut away most of the cables and knots without injuring the whale, which is expected to fully recover.

“Now it’s free to swim about the bay,” María Björk Gunnarsdóttir, project manager at Icewhale, told reporters, adding that the team observed the whale’s behavior after it was freed. While its diving patterns had changed, everything else about the whale appeared fine. A rescue they expected to take several days took only less than two.

“Taken as a whole, this went very well,” she said. “He was very tangled, and the job was tough. We’re here on the second day and have freed him. We are all very happy about this.”

As reported, attempts were made two weeks ago by the Icelandic Coast Guard to save the whale, who did manage to cut away some of the netting. The Coast Guard have been successful at this task before, but this time, they had the help of experts from The International Fund for Animal Welfare and The British Diving Marine & Life Rescue.