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A rescue mission turned serious after rescuers attempting to free a young humpback whale from netting were paid a visit by its' friend
A seemingly straightforward rescue mission turned serious after rescuers attempting to free a young humpback whale from netting were paid a visit by its' much larger friend.

The animal was in obvious distress and had laboured movements as it dragged heavy netting in the Gold Coast Bay on Saturday morning.

The rescue undertaken by a Sea World crew took an exhausting five hours after their efforts were impeded by another larger humpback whale, which protectively breached and rolled over, forcing the boats to retreat.

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A much larger whale began to violently slap the water and roll over, forcing rescue crews to back off
The creature was initially spotted by whale watchers and again by tourists, who could not believe their luck the whale remained close to their boat, 7 News reported.

They realised the animal was in extreme distress after noticing it could not lift its tail out of the water due to a heavy weight pressing down on it.


A Sea World rescue crew were immediately brought in to assist.

After realising their vessel was much too small to approach the whale duo, reinforcement boats were brought in.

After a laborious effort, the larger whale finally backed off at 2.30pm and allowed rescue crews to cut the nets and free the animal.

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After a grueling five-hours, the rescue team were finally able to remove the heavy netting and set the whale free
However, Sea World director of marine sciences Trevor Long said that a lot of damage appears to have been done to the whale's tail.

It is believed that the whale had dragged the netting thousands of kilometres - all the way from Victoria.