A humpback whale entangled in hundreds of feet of fishing net off the coast of San Diego was freed on Saturday after a two-day operation by a rescue team. "We hope we gave this whale a second chance at life," said Kelly Terry, a spokeswoman for SeaWorld in San Diego, which sent a rescue team to liberate the marine mammal, according to The Associated Press.
The rescuers cut away more than 230 feet of fishing line entangled in and around the whale's mouth, fins and tail, freeing it near La Jolla Cove, according to New York Daily News.
The trapped adult humpback whale was first spotted 45 miles south of Los Angeles Friday afternoon. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) crew attempted a rescue, but only managed to cut off about 100 feet of netting before the whale swam into deeper waters.
The 50-foot-long creature was spotted again 60 miles down the coast on Saturday afternoon. The SeaWorld rescue team successfully cut away the remaining rope following a three-hour operation.
NOAA's whale rescue team has responded to nearly 50 entangled whales this year, a surge that could be due to warmer waters attracting the giant animals closer to shore, where they get trapped in fishing lines, said Justin Viezbicke, a NOAA program specialist who was part of Friday's rescue effort, according to CBS Los Angeles.
