A whale of a tale!
With a happy ending, too…! 
(Note added May 15, 2010: Well, I guess not….)
The 35-foot, roughly 30-ton gray whale first appeared in Dana Point Harbor on Monday and appeared lethargic, possibly old and ill.
However, marine biologists looked closer, and discovered that the whale was caught in a tangle of fishing nets and other gear, and the mesh rope was knotted around the whale’s head and tail. On Wednesday, yesterday, a team trained in disentangling marine animals from nets arrived at the harbor. However, the team members, from Sea World in San Diego, the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach, had never before tried to rescue a whale!
Barry Curtis, on one of the boats, said that he caressed the animal and spoke soothingly to it as other workers used a sickle-shaped blade on the end of a long pole to cut the nets. Curtis said that the whale was much younger than originally believed!
The team removed the mesh ropes in around four hours. Hundreds of spectators watched from shore. As the ropes were cut away, the gray whale began to breathe more easily and swim more vigorously. The whale started to move toward the mouth of the bay as the last rope was cut, and after making a final pass of the harbor, soon disappeared into the ocean. The whale was last seen from Doheny Beach.
Marine biologists hope that the whale will finish the migration to Alaska or the Arctic, where roughly 10,000 gray whales meet to feed each summer.
The rescue was the first time in more than 10 years that a whale has been successfully freed from nets in Southern California.
Photographs of the rescue are in THIS LATimes online photogallery
Note added May 15, 2010: The gray whale, nicknamed “Lilly,” beached itself and died Friday at Doheny State Beach.)
-Bill at
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