Humpback whale gets tangled in nets. Watch ‘extremely dangerous’ rescue operation

A video of a group of rescuers in Australia untangling a huge humpback whale stuck in nets was posted on Facebook. The video has gone viral.

A video of a group of rescuers freeing a humpback whale tangled in nets has gone viral. Posted on the official Facebook page of Sea World in Australia’s Gold Coast, the video shows how the rescuers reached the whale by boat to help it.

The image is taken from a rescue video of a humpback whale in Australia. (Facebook/@Sea World - Gold Coast, Australia)

“Head on-board with the Sea World Foundation team as they joined the Queensland Fisheries MART agencies in a delicate rescue operation to successfully disentangle a 10-metre adult Humpback whale from the shark control program net at Mermaid Beach this morning,” they wrote as they posted the video.

“The whale was reported late on Monday afternoon, but with poor weather, sea and light conditions, the rescue team embarked before first-light this morning to commence the operation. The rescue teams worked collaboratively to successfully disentangle the whale from two vessels using specialised cutting equipment to remove all the netting from the whale’s head and pectoral fins in around an hour,” they added.

In the next few lines, they explained that when the rescue team deals with large animals then the operations become “extremely dangerous”. They ended that post with a line of caution highlighting that such rescues should only be done by “trained agencies”.

Watch the video below:

The video was posted four days ago. Since being shared, it has accumulated more than 500 views and counting. The video is also being re-shared by many across other social media platforms.

Take a look at how Facebook users reacted to the video:

“Thanks to both rescue teams,” wrote a Facebook user. “Thank you again Sea World GC for saving this whale,” joined another. “Well done as always Wayne, Andy and team,” added a third.