Another whale has been rescued from shark nets on the Gold Coast, the fifth of the migration season.
The 10-metre humpback was spotted tangled in nets off Currumbin around 6.30 am on Monday, with onlookers describing the mammal as looking tired and lethargic.
Crews from Sea World arrived at the scene within the hour to find the whale completely tangled around its head and upper body.
The whale was also struggling to breathe, with netting covering part of its blowhole.
Crews got to work cutting the nets from the humpback, but the whale became further entangled after trying to swim its way out of the net.
The humpback was eventually freed a short time later.
“With some really accurate cutting and a pretty compliant whale by the end of it, the team was able to get the whale free, which was an amazing outcome for us this morning,” Sea World Foundation Head of Marine Sciences Wayne Phillips said.
“We wondered if we were ever going to get through it all, so initially a bit of a relief but then elation once you see that whale head off into the deep blue, and it was quite tricky for a bit there.
“It did turn around and head straight back towards the net that we had just disentangled it from, but luckily it had its wits about it and was able to dive underneath that net and then head off on the migration.”
