“Free Willy”( III)

A few nights ago on television, I saw three whale watchers risked their lives to save a humpback whale off the California coast.

It looked like the huge whale was already dead. When one of these three good people snorkeled to get a closer look at the lifeless body, he was surprised to see a distressed animal tangled in fishing nets was looking at him too. Sometimes, direct eye contact can be intimidating. But this one between a man and a beast put this near-death humpback at easy. It seemed to know that it was in good hands. It did not panic while its rescuers leaned over the edge of their boat to free it from some greenish nets.

Once the great whale was out from the deadly entanglement, before swimming away from its elated rescuers, it put on a spectacular show by jumping in and out of the water or breaching for umpteen times. Scientists said whales use breaching to communicate with others. So by frolicking in and out of the blue sea, this awesome creature was displaying its huge gratitude to three selfless lifesavers.
- Ayee