Good Samaritans help rescue whale near Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, Md. – Several people out in the waters on Thursday took up the challenge to save a whale that was caught in a fishing net near Ocean City, and one of those good Samaritans says it was no easy task.

“We were just hacking away and it was kind of dangerous because every time it went down it pulled the net down and whatever was in the boat that the net was hooked on it would pull it down too,” said Joseph Brown.

Joseph Brown better known as Turtle tells 47ABC he spotted what he believes to have been a baby humpback whale in distress around 7 PM on Thursday in the Isle of Wight.

He says even though he faced a dangerous task he could not believe life had given him the chance to be so close to this majestic creature.

“Well, there was a group of people following dooies flowing very creepy across the bay and everybody grabbed a hold of the boat and we pulled it up and this whale comes jumping up and blowing with netting all over its face,” said Brown.

Brown says it only took a short while for the Maryland Natural Resources Police to come in and take over control of the rescue.

He says he was quick to share his one in a life time experience with thousands of people on social media.

“I wanted to document it on camera because it’s very rare to see a whale like that out in our bay,” said Brown.

“They usually only come in when they’re hurt or something so I wanted to, you know, record it so the word can get out there that it needs some help,” said Brown.

According to the Maryland Natural Resources Police, they were not able to find the whale again after it was freed.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police says part of the net may still be caught on the whale. Anyone who happens to spot it in the future is encouraged to reach out to officials.