Small-Town Alaskans Rescue Humpback Whale

The small town of Tenakee Springs, Alaska, was awoken in the middle of the night to a terrifying shriek. It was the day before Thanksgiving and some in the remote village of about 150 people didn't have thoughts of feasting on turkey but rather getting to the bottom of the curious noise.

The cries, it was learned, were coming from a humpback whale that was caught in fishing debris. In a report by freelance journalist Erin McKinstry, three residents stepped up to help the whale.

Steve Lewis described the sound as being “This sort of whistling and groaning (sound).”

“People were very shaken up after losing a lot of sleep and listening to a bellowing humpback whale all night,” Gordon Chew said.

After receiving distress calls Chew, Lewis, and Wendy Stern went to investigate the whale's entanglement. The trio are volunteers trained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and were authorized by the NOAA to help the whale escape its binds.

After submerging a camera in the Southeast Alaska waters, the footage revealed that a 40-foot whale had become entangled in fishing lines and buoys.

“It had an anchor on the tail, lines going forward, a buoy in its mouth, another buoy at its tail. And it really could barely move,” Stern said. “It was awful to see an animal all bound up like that.”

“We could hear it breathing and it was labored, the way it was pinched and folded in half,” Chew said.

“It was amazing that people were willing to give up their holiday preparations in order to get this animal-free,” said Sadie Wright, an NOAA large whale entanglement specialist.

“We were able to work with those folks in Tenakee to evaluate the photos and the video, come up with a safe and deliberate plan to do these disentanglement tactics from a distance to keep people safe,” Wright said.

The three volunteers worked tirelessly and carefully to cut away the fishing material.

They were successful. After cutting the buoy off the whale's tail, it was able to swim away.

Some of the fishing debris remained on the creature. Experts believe that the whale will be strong enough to shake the rest of the material off.

“Helping a big animal like that is a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving,” Lewis said. “We were really happy to be able to spend our day doing something really good for the world or at least for that whale.”

Such large whale entanglements are rare in Alaska.