Whale Freed: Humpback Disentangled, But Injured

Photograph of the entanglement team working to free the humpback whale off Sandy Hook, NJ from the U.S. Coast Guard

The juvenile humpback whale, caught in lobster netting and gear near the Ambrose Channel, off Sandy Hook, NJ, was freed yesterday by a rescue team (another photograph of the rescue is after the jump). However, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Teri Frady said, "It does have serious injuries, but it is much better off than being anchored in the shipping lane." Here's video of the rescue, via CityRoom:

Frady explained, "It had curvature on its back from the weight of the gear pulling down on it, but the primary entanglement was the line wrapped around it tail, which caused a gash." The whale was able to swim away on its own; Frady told Bloomberg News that "officials won’t track the animal because they would have to attach another line, which would further endanger the whale, and because not much can be done." She said, "Obviously it would be better if it wasn’t seriously injured. We’ll just have to see how nature does."