A heavily entangled humpback whale was first sighted in Batemans Bay on the NSW South Coast on June 13 and has finally been freed after a two-day rescue operation by Sea World Foundation. The whale was freed from ropes and buoys at Evans Head on June 21.
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TVTranscript
00:00Guys, we're very close to the drone now.
00:02I see a spot, I see a spot.
00:04Yeah, that was one for the memory banks, that was huge.
00:08So, starting yesterday, we've been tracking this animal, another one coming up the NSW coast.
00:14Amazing support from the public, from Orca, from NSW Parks.
00:18We did have the benefit of drone footage, so we have been sort of preparing and making a game plan.
00:23Our process was start at the front and work our way back,
00:26and Benno got an amazing cut in on the main part of the rope there.
00:29We slowly ticked through the boxes and we removed that first line,
00:33we got a second line off that was going underneath,
00:36and right then we actually did the final hurrah,
00:39and we got that last bit of rope off that was connected to four floats that it had been dragging the whole time.
00:44Instantly, as soon as that last bit of gear came off,
00:47the whole swim pattern changed.
00:49It took off at about four to six knots.
00:51So, so good to see that reaction, see that what we do out here
00:55is definitely benefiting these animals that are coming up here with gear on them.