Michael Fishbach, co-founder of The Great Whale Conservancy (GWC), recounts a poignant and inspiring encounter with a young humpback whale ensnared in local fishing nets.
At first glance, the animal appeared lifeless, but Fishbach’s instinct to investigate revealed a heart-wrenching truth: the poor creature was entangled and struggling for its life.
Time was of the essence; what began as a tragic situation swiftly transformed into an exhilarating rescue mission. Fishbach and his dedicated crew sprang into action, working tirelessly to free the young whale.
The entire encounter was captured on video, allowing viewers to witness the unfolding drama firsthand, as narrated by Fishbach himself.
In this remarkable footage, the whale, affectionately named Valentina by her rescuers, makes a breathtaking recovery. After her harrowing ordeal, she joyfully expresses her gratitude with stunning full-body breaches and tail flips, a display of pure exuberance and freedom.
This video powerfully reminds us of our ability to inspire action on behalf of other beings. Whether through grand gestures or simple acts of kindness, each of us has the potential to champion those in need.
Opportunities to become a hero for animals surround us every day. Where will your compassion lead you next?
About the Great Whale Conservancy (GWC)
The Great Whale Conservancy is dedicated to protecting and conserving whales and their ocean habitats. It actively engages in research, advocacy, and education to raise awareness about the threats facing these majestic creatures, including entanglement in fishing gear, ship strikes, and climate change.
Through their initiatives, GWC collaborates with various organizations, scientists, and communities to promote sustainable practices that benefit marine life. Their mission is to rescue and rehabilitate stranded whales and create a safer, healthier ocean environment for future generations.
Visit the Great Whale Conservancy at http://www.eii.org/gwc/ to learn more about their efforts and how you can get involved.
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Amazing.
Wow – so powerfully uplifting in every way!
Thank you for your great work 🙂
AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL and SAD……this beautiful whale had amazing humans on her side that day. Thank you for this and for recording it to share with us. keep up your AMAZING work bless
That was the most beautiful, heartwarming thing I have EVER seen! I can feel my heart opening <3 lOvE
Amazing ! she is sooo happy to be free Im so glad you were able to help her ! Good work folks.
Thanks great articles
Hi,
My hat is off to you for such a good deed.
I want to offer, in my casual interest in the ocean and it inhabitants, that my research shows that Humpbacks sing, slap the surface, and belly flop to communicate with other whales. It makes sense to me that this whale might have been traveling in a pod. If this is the case and the others left (her) behind, in a humans trap, she may have been trying to communicate her enormous luck in having you stop by. No doubt there is the sheer joy of release involved too. I can only hope that in some way I too can help one of creations (Gods) creatures in as significant way during this lifetime of mine. I also noted there were no fish in the net. What is up with that?
[..YouTube..] Amazing story. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing this with the world!
everything was fine till ya had to do the god thingy….when,,, is all I can ask, are you god ppl just going to just go away and die and see if there’s an afterlife..then come back and tell us all about it…NOT!!
Everything was fine till you had a be rude for no reason. Dude wasn’t bible thumping. If he wants to think god created the whale, that’s his right. How about we just appreciate a great video, regardless of our beliefs?
[..YouTube..] Beautiful. We should all appreciate life in such a joyful manner.
[..YouTube..] That’s fucking cool. Hopefully it’ll tell its kin about this and convey to them the point that some humans are actually nice.
[..YouTube..] that’s fantastic story, Just amazing
[..YouTube..] Amazing! So glad all of you decided to save this beautiful creature. This shows me that there is humanity out there who really care about all of God’s creation and are willing to help those in need. I can’t believe that some people have voted “dislike” on this video. What in the world is there to not like. I LOVE it!!
[..YouTube..] What a beautiful story. Thank you SO much Michale Fishbach & Co. for all of your hard work and for sharing this with the rest of us! It’s good to know there are people like you out there.
[..YouTube..] What a wonderful thing to watch a family working with one knife to free this incredible intelligent creature. A lovely story for my family to watch. She was thanking you with every move of her free fins and tail Douglas Adams was so right in his love of animals and belief in their intelligence.
[..YouTube..] What a fantastic act of kindness and great story.
[..YouTube..] Awesome!
[..YouTube..] Incredible. Wow, speechless. Thank you for saving her life! <3
[..YouTube..] What a moving and magnificent story. Thank you for sharing this video as a reminder to all of us the beauty of the whales!
[..YouTube..] All animals want to live without pain. Becoming vegan is the only way one can be humane.
[..YouTube..] Not being a religious person by any stretch… THANK GOD FOR YOU!!! True heros you ALL are. I LOVE whales and watching this video was such a bittersweet love story with the happiest of endings. You are to be praised for your efforts, and I thank you for freeing – just trying to free this helpless, beautiful life. xo xo xo
[..YouTube..] Thank you , Thank you Thankyou fotr saving her life and filming her gratitude.
[..YouTube..] i got tears… goosebumps… smiles… and happiness from this video! thank you so much for everything!
[..YouTube..] I barely breath while watching this video… and had a nice sigh at the end… thanks a lot for great job of preserving the nature and sharing this incredible experience with us!
[..YouTube..] brilliant.
[..YouTube..] Awesome!
[..YouTube..] That’s friggin awesome. That’s amazing.
[..YouTube..] That was simply amazing to watch.
[..YouTube..] OMG it was so sad that this beautiful whale is tangled in some stupid fishermens fish net but this video brought joy & tears to my eyes. God bless these people for saving this wonderful creature. 🙂 Thank you!
[..YouTube..] @rajkashana i hope the same but for them.
[..YouTube..] Awesome. My 2 year old and I watched and were thrilled by video. How wonderful of you guys to save wild creature and risk involved. Glad for whale and glad for everyone safety.
[..YouTube..] This is amazing! You guys were so brave! Fantastic!
[..YouTube..] I just waded through a lot of words (505 comments) to try and find at least one person who identified with the Source of the Joy and Gratitude “Valentina” expressed for her salvation. Thanks, atticus 126, for your spirit’s recognition of the work of Jesus to set us free from the “network of this world”! Great work with the whales, Michael Fishbach, I love this story of such sacrificial love shown to the world on Saint Valentine’s Day, 2011!! Thankyou VALENTINA, for your tailspin on Salvation!
[..YouTube..] Beautiful
[..YouTube..] that was amazing.
[..YouTube..] Quite simply beautiful
[..YouTube..] She was definitely thanking you! I want to thank you too. 🙂
[..YouTube..] GREAT!!!
[..YouTube..] This is amazingly beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this. It brought tears to my eyes.
[..YouTube..] What more can I say but – WELL DONE!
I love the fact that it was a *young* whale. The whale wanted to *live* – what a great example for human youth. We all have our own NETS – when someone tries to help, let’s be that young whale!!!
We just had the Minke and Humpback Whales passing Cairns, Australia on their way south to cooler waters now that we are approaching Summer again. It is such an amazing time of year when they Migrate North and then return south with their young again. Congratulations on such a successful rescue and amazing event.
What a fantastic event, thank you for sharing it.
Beautiful. Thank you. The joy is so overwhelming.
Fabulous and inspiring effort by all! So very wonderful to see a happy ending,thanks for sharing!
thank you so much for your hard work and dedication. a beautiful story and a great demonstration of kindess to animals and ‘interspecies communication!’
Isn’t this wonderful !!!!!
You guys are amazing people that made me cry in happiness just beautiful :):)
I am absolutely humbled by your deed. All I can do is thank you on behalf of all the creatures of the world, too many of whom are entangled in man’s other devices. Thank you and thank you for photographing this moment. All my best to you…
Congratulations!!! What a great rescue, absolutely touching to see the whale breach in appreciation. It took a lot love and self sacrifice (risky) to perform this salvation and that makes you heroes! I’m so happy to know that the whale is free again.
Was this near Bahia de Los Angeles?
It was pure joyfulness to watch this video. WONDERFUL human act ! and the whale in the end – left me speechless.
That was awesome! What a blessing to the whale, the people, and anything else that may have gotten caught in the wire! Thanks for sharing!
This was great to watch , you guys are wonderful !
I get so sick when I see our mammals in the ocean being killed by humans , I condemn all the nations that think it’s ok to do that. Fish nets or big Freighter , just for the almighty BUCK !
Than the Universe for people like you !
Here’s a most wonderful thing. God bless people like these….i love youxoxojim
Thank you for your compassion!! The whale’s happiness and gratitude after being saved is amazing!!!! Watching this video made my day :D. Please keep on saving more animals and may acts like this inspire people to help out in this world….we really need it in these times.
So appreciative to the amazing people who dedicate their lives to saving beautiful creatures like this humpback whale. We need more people like this in our world.
Thank you!
Doesn’t get better than that!