A California gray whale was spotted Friday night off the coast of Dana Point Harbor, Calif., covered in nearly 50 feet of fishing wire. Rescue crews suspected it had been dragging the nylon netting, which was filled with dead sea animals, for nearly a week.
The rescue involved seven tiring hours of sawing through the nylon as rescue crews followed the whale for mile after mile out to sea.
"It was getting very frightening towards the end of the day because we were running out of time," David Anderson of DolphinSafari.com told NBCLosAngeles.com.
Crews were using grappling hooks and lines to reel in the mammal and a knife to cut away debris, according to The LA Times. Then, at last, a line snapped as the whale dived down, and was free.
More than 1,000 whales and dolphins die in fishing nets every day said Anderson, and he was happy to be able to save one.
--Msnbc.com wire services contributed to this report
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