Good news for one whale (and her friend)

There aren’t too many good stories around these days, so it’s nice to find one when it happens.

Crew members of a whale-watching vessel spotted a regular visitor to the local waters around Long Island in trouble: the humpback, nicknamed Foggy, had rope wrapped around her head and tail, dragging a mass of old lobster traps beneath her.

But Foggy wasn’t alone
– her companion Grommet, another regular of those waters, stayed with her. The crew watched Grommet repeatedly lifting himself out of the water as they approached, and even when a rescue crew arrived, Grommet stayed close by.

From the article:

“Now comes the truly amazing thing… the instant the rope came off Foggy’s head, Grommet dove, and then burst from the water in a spectacular breach,” Callaghan writes. “Tell me that wasn’t a celebration.”

Given that humpback whales are fairly solitary creatures who spend most of their lives alone, it’s especially intriguing that Grommet (I keep expecting him to ask for cheese) stayed close by the whole time, and that they were seen together so often.

Happy dance time (even though I can’t leap out of the water anywhere near as impressively). 🙂

[Feature image:  Humpback whale breaching. Image by Whit Welles Wwelles14, licensed under GNU FDL]