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Got this from my diveshop this morning - I thought it was worth passing on... - D
"Gratitude
If you read the front page story of the SF Chronicle on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2005, you would have read about a female humpback whale who had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body-her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth.
A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radioed an environmental group for help. Within a few hours, the rescue team arrived and determined that she was so bad off, the only way to save her was to dive in and untangle her-a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer.
They worked for hours with curved knives and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, and nudged them, pushed them gently around-she thanked them.
Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same.
May you, and all those you love, be so blessed and fortunate----to be surrounded by people who will help you get untangled from the things that are binding you. And, may you always know the joy of giving and receiving gratitude.
Wow, that is a great story. I am really glad that they were able to help the whale out. I wish I could have an experience like that, I'm sure it would be life changing. Just makes you feel good that such a beautiful animal will get to live when it should have died. Thanks for the story.
This another in a whole series of stories I have heard of the incredible intelligence of whales.
I heard one in New Zealand from a boat captain whose boat hit an orca accidentally. The orca was very badly hurt (broken back) and eventually died. Before it did, two other orcas swam on either side of it, holding it up so its spout was out of the water. Some kind of official whale organization came out to see if they could help. A doctor climbed on the Orca's back to inspect the wound. The Orca's clearly knew she was there to help, and the captain told me they even seemed to be trying to help her when she needed to maneuver in her work.
It was futile, though.
Within a few days, every known pod of Orcas in the near Pacific was in the Aukland area. It had all the appearances of a massive memorial service.
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