Peter Brown, Hero to One Young Humpback Whale

Photo courtesy: wjklos/CC BY 2.0

Although the intricate messages conveyed within a whale's call are mostly lost on human ears, there's a pretty good chance that at least one young humpback's songs will be dedicated to a man named Peter Brown.

The Queensland native and his wife were out enjoying a pleasant day of sailing off the coast of Brisbane, Australia when they spotted a young humpback whale that had become entangled in a shark net, so they alerted the authorities. As the minutes passed, however, it became clear that the animal was on the verge of death as it struggled to keep its blowhole above water.

So, in classic heroic style, the brave 67-year-old took matters into his own hands -- single-handedly freeing the whale with nothing more than a bit of true grit and a kitchen knife. Shades of Crocodile Dundee! The men down under seem to take matters into their own hands without hesitation.

"This whale was really wheezing and wasn't able to keep his breathing hole above the water. Something had to be done immediately - we couldn't wait for the cavalry to turn up," Brown tells the Brisbane Times.

At first, Brown rowed out to the 40-foot long whale on a dingy and attempted to cut the net from there. When that proved insufficient to free the animal, the intrepid whale-rescuer then strapped on some goggles and fins, diving into the water off North Stradbroke Island with knife in hand (or I prefer to think, he jumped in Tarzan style with the knife clenched between his teeth) in order to finish the job.

"It was quite an eery feeling touching the flesh of a huge, great big 40-foot whale ... but I felt totally unthreatened by the whale," Brown told reporters. "Eventually it seemed to swim away from all the ropes and the buoys that were tangled with it. And very slowly, and in a very groggy fashion, it swam away."

"And then another little motor boat came up ... and followed [the whale] out to make sure it was OK. Then he came back to us holding his thumbs up and that was the message saying 'mission accomplished'.

"We were quite delighted and we headed on our way."

Shark control program manager Jeff Krause, from the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol, said the whale had breached and became entangled on a shark drum line.

While authorities say they can't condone Brown's act of mammalian solidarity, they had to admit that it was "a great result for the whale."

Whale Rescued 10 Years Ago is Seen Alive Again

Photo courtesy: Photo: Katya Kroch / IBJ via TreeHugger.com

All too often, I find myself blogging about environmental issues that carry a great deal of worry and stress surrounding them. Finally, an uplifting issue that should lighten any "earth muffin's" mind. I know it inspires me to keep fighting in my tiny little corner of the world.

One morning in November 2000, a large humpback whale was found stranded on a beach near Ubatuba, Brazil, clinging to life in the crashing surf. It didn't take long before a team was assembled of nearly one hundred fishermen, firefighters, biologists, and locals who began working tirelessly to return the struggling animal back to sea -- and after twelve long hours, they were successful. Still, as that whale slipped beneath the waves and out of sight, those volunteers could only hope their efforts were not in vain, knowing full well that the whale's chances of survival were slim. But now, after ten years of guessing, rescuers are finally sure the whale is alive and well -- because they've seen it.Sadly, beached whales have become an all too common sight in Brazil; this year alone, 95 animals have been discovered, only one of which was returned to the sea alive. For the rescuers who inevitably arrive to give beached whales a fighting chance, the work is daunting and the outcomes uncertain at best -- but for the first time ever, it has been discovered that their efforts can pay off.

The beached humpback whale in 2000, before being rescued. (Photo: Hugo Gallo/Aquário de Ubatuba)via TreeHugger.com

In 2008, biologists doing researcher in the waters off Brazil spotted a large, healthy-looking humpback whale with coloring that was startlingly similar to the one they'd rescued from the beach eight years earlier. To confirm this unlikely reunion, skin samples were collected and compared to those taken from the stranded animal in 2000. Now, after genetic analysis, it has finally been confirmed to be the same whale.

Never before has a rescued whale been re-encountered after so long at sea -- and the news is giving hope to those who continue to devote their time to saving beached whales.

"The confirmation of the survival of this animal for a least eight years after its stranding shows that, despite the low chances of survival, it is worth every effort to save the whales," veterinarian Milton Marcondes told Brazilian media.

The odds that a whale will survive after beaching, however, are still quite slim. Of the hundreds of whales that have become stranded over the years, only three large humpbacks were returned to the ocean alive -- and even then, it isn't known whether they survive for long or not.

In the past, some have questioned if efforts to save beached whales were worth the trouble, believing that the animals were sick or injured and would likely die in either case. But for the biologists and volunteers who struggle in the surf to rescue those majestic creatures in desperate need of a helping hand, the slightest chance of success is always worth their sweat, and often, tears.

And with a fleeting glimpse of one such rescued whale, swimming alive and free against the current and against the odds -- they can carry on knowing that they do not toil in vain.