Entangled Whale Calf Rescued From Shark Net After Mother's Calls of Distress Heard

A humpback whale calf was successfully freed from a shark net off the Queensland coast early on October 1 after being stuck there for hours, with its mother’s cries of distress audible through the night to locals.

Damien Coulter recorded this drone footage of the imperiled calf, with its distressed mother nearby.

“You could hear the mother’s distress call from all hours of the morning at Alexandra Headland,” Coulter wrote on Instagram. “The baby calf was fully entangled and time was running out.”

Another local told the ABC the mother’s cries were “echoing through the whole headland”.

Coulter said that fisheries department was called and managed to release the calf. Both mother and calf swam away freely shortly after, he said. Credit: Damian Coulter via Storyful

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