DailySusan Humor Blog

WHEN THE WHALE WENT FREE

This is reportedly from Page One of the San Francisco Chronicle this past Dec. 15:

A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of heavy crab traps and lines. She was weighed 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, even a line tugging in her mouth.

A fisherman spotted her just east of the Farralone Islands (outside the Golden Gate) and radio’ed 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. That was a very dangerous proposition. One slap of the tail could kill a rescuer. They worked for hours with curved knives, cutting rope by rope, 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, pushing them gently around – thanking 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.

The story comes with a wish: “May you, and all those you love, be so blessed as to be untangled from the things that you might think are binding you.”

What a whale of a nice tale. Happy weekending!