A brave diver saved a ‘frightened’ giant sperm whale that he has ‘known’ for a decade – by slashing through ropes that had become wrapped around its lower jaw and anchored to the bottom of the ocean.
Hugues Vitry decided to help the sperm whale who was tangled in a number of ropes in the ocean off the coast of Mauritius
The buoy on the end of the rope was making it more difficult for the whale to swim. According to Mr Vitry, the whale was exhausted by the exertion
Mr Vitry spent several minutes calming the whale before cutting his way through the ropes which were attached to more than two dozen buoys
After taking a few minutes to calm the whale, footage shows Hugues painstakingly cut the ties with special scissors, making sure not to damage the flesh.
Having removed the majority of the rope from around its teeth, the whale plunged down into the deep to escape – before the freed buoys resurfaced minutes later.
Mr Vitry said it was impossible to free the whale without cutting the ropes as there was too much pressure to untie the knots
Mr Vitry has known the whale since he was born off the coast of Mauritius in 2011
Mr Vitry, pictured, and his team used a special set of scissors to cut through the ropes
‘The ropes were so tightly wrapped around the jaw, I knew using a knife would certainly have also cut into the flesh, so I opted to use special scissors to cut the entanglement.
‘There was a part of the rope where two shackles were connected to each other that acted as a swivel that was trapped on and in between the teeth.’
According to Mr Vitry, it was clear the whale was in distress as he was dragging more than two dozen buoys behind him
Mr Vitry said he hauled in all of the buoys and ropes and brought them to shore so they did not tangle with another whale