Gray whale rescued from fishing net off Dana Point

DANA POINT, Calif. (KABC) -- A whale that was caught in a fishing net over the weekend off Dana Point is now swimming free.

It's all thanks to Capt. Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari and his team of volunteers. They documented the 24-hour rescue on video.

After attaching a flashing signal buoy so they wouldn't lose the whale in darkness Friday night, they spent all day Saturday working to free the young gray whale from the 50-foot net.

"It dove down deep, so deep that it pulled all these buoys down under the water. And amazingly, you couldn't see anything. It was like something from 'Jaws.' Everybody was just holding their breath. All of a sudden the whale came up, and it was free. It was free of the net. It was like a miracle," said Anderson.

After the whale broke free, rescuers said it seemed to thank them, swimming past their two boats.

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animal news, rescue, orange county news, marc brown

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