The Oceanside Fire Department’s Marine Safety Unit, SeaWorld San Diego, and the Pacific Marine Mammal Center worked to free a distressed humpback whale tangled in rope ten miles offshore Tuesday.
While rescuers were able to find the whale and gather information about how it was entangled, they were unable to completely free the creature before it swam off.
“Despite the valiant efforts of the rescue team, significant challenges were posed by waning daylight and the whale’s direction of travel towards foreign waters,” noted a statement from Oceanside Fire.
The agencies involved in the rescue attempt are continuing to monitor the humpback whale and say that they will continue to collaborate to aid it, if necessary.
