Endangered Whale Freed

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- State and federal biologists say they’ve removed more than 150 feet of ropes wrapped around an endangered whale’s head and fins.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission team first spotted the North Atlantic right whale entangled in ropes on Christmas Day.

On Thursday off Daytona Beach, biologists were able to remove more than 150 feet of ropes and cut away portions of more rope that remain on the 30-foot-long sea mammal.

Jamison Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service says the ropes were life-threatening to the whale. The team expects the whale to shed the rest of the rope by itself.

Right whales’ birth their calves off Georgia and northeast Florida from mid-November through mid-April.

AP