This video captures an amazing moment in which a pod made up of killer orcas released a trapped whale humpback.
On January 10, the remarkable natural encounter was captured near Bremer bay on the Western Australian south coast.
The’rescue” was so impressive that it stunned everyone. Humpbacks are a common food source for orcas in the ocean, whether they’re injured or not.
With the whale wrapped in ropes it was easy prey for the ocean predators. Great white sharks are often attacked and killed by them.
“It would normally be part of their food so when we saw injured humpbacks and approaching orcas, we were worried,” Gemma Sharp Sharp, Whale Watch Western Australia, told The Mandurah Mail.
The signs looked ominous for a humpback whale was who tangled in ropes recently off the Western Australian south coast (pictured)
An orca, shown left, approached the humpback whale and onlookers assumed that the whale had lost his mind.
The trio of orcas, named Hookfin, Blade and Matriach Queen, were expected to devour the trapped whale – but amazingly they all appeared to lose interest once the humpback was set free.
“Lifting his fluke, we could see that the humpback whale had become entangled, and our hearts were sunk,” Whale Watchers Western Australia stated.
“He rolled. We could see Blade swimming underneath his fluke, looking at the rope. Blade then ran towards the humpback. He defended himself using pectoral fins.
The ‘Matriarch queen’ arrived, and moved toward the humpback whale. There was much white water. After that, something amazing happened: a huge chunk of the green rope which had been entangling him floated behind him.
After being freed just in time, the humpback whale swam off from the pod.
It was another unusual sighting to see a whaler swimming through the waters of Western Australia in January.
Antarctica is the best place for Humpbacks to feed at this time of year.
Amazing scenes showed one orca rescuing the whale’s humpback (pictured).
Those who witnessed the scene were shocked after the orcas had every chance to feast on the injured whale – but chose not to