A rescue team dispatched to aid an entangled whale spotted in the waters off Newport Beach was unable to free the whale from a rope — and now the whale hasn’t been seen for days.
Experts say that the whale — a 40-foot-long, approximately 5-year-old humpback — is likely in distress because the rope is tightly tied around its right flipper and extends through its mouth.
“It’s stressed and freaked and entangled and doesn’t realize we’re trying to help,” said Jessica Rodriguez, the education and communications manager for Newport Landing and Davey’s Locker Whale Watching.
Rodriguez said that whale watchers first spotted the waterbound mammal on Dec. 2, but it was not until Sunday that they noticed the rope while the whale was breaching the surface of the ocean.
“We were like, ‘Oh man, it’s very badly entangled,’ ” she said. “The rope is wrapped really tightly almost like a tourniquet around its flipper.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was called out to try to free the 50,000- to 60,000-pound whale, but their team was unable to cut away the ropes using knives.
The crew had to cut the rope close to the whale’s eye, which makes it a dangerous situation for the whale and the rescue team alike, Rodriguez said.
The whale was last seen Tuesday. It has not been spotted since.
The waters off of Orange County have been visited by an unusually high number of humpbacks this year, according to observers.
“I’ve been working in this area for 10 years and I’ve never seen this crazy level of humpback whales,” said wildlife photographer Mark Girardeau. “But they’re here and it’s incredible.”
The humpbacks are chasing schools of anchovies and often breach the surface of the water to grab at the little fish.
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