Sea World Helps Whale Tangled in Buoys off Australia's Gold Coast

Australia’s Sea World theme park said a rescue team helped a distressed humpback whale four nautical miles off Queensland’s Southport Seaway, near the Gold Coast, on July 17. The tired whale was towing two buoys and ropes.

The team was part of the Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the amusement park.

The video shows the team pursuing the whale and removing the buoys and rope with a long hook. The whale had deep soft-tissue abrasions from the rope, but the rescue team believes “with the removal of this equipment the whale will have a fighting chance of survival.”

The injured whale was on its northern migration with a companion whale, Sea World said. Credit: Sea World via Storyful