A man who was dubbed a hero by the people has been issued a fine after rescuing a whale calf that got trapped in a net and exhibited signs of distress.
The incident occurred in Gold Coast, Australia, where a diver known as Django rushed to the sea at Burleigh Heads after spotting a stranded whale in distress.
According to the reports, the man approached the whale with his mini boat before jumping into the water and helping the whale break free of the shark net it got trapped in.
After the successful rescue, the authorities have allegedly fined the man, whereas Seven News confirmed that the penalty for approaching a whale on purpose could come with a $630 on-the-spot fine or a maximum fine of over $20k.
“I saw a whale and thought, ‘that’s pretty cool.’ I saw it was in the net and thought, ‘well, that’s not that cool,’” Django said in an interview with 7 News.
As the man went on to say, the whale was trapped several meters underneath the surface.
“But because of the adrenaline, about 2 meters [down] my heart was just pumping … so that’s why I had to keep coming up and going down,” Django added.
Despite understanding that he’s found himself in trouble due to his rescue mission, the man insisted he just did what he could to save the animal.
With whale migration season setting in, animal conservation officials have been warning of such incidents and asking the authorities to remove shark nets so that whales don’t get trapped in them.
“Their removal during the whale migration season would be a good start and could be accompanied by the serious proving of other technologies such as drones. This must happen now,” Jonathan Clark of the Sea Shepherd expressed.
Following Django’s whale rescue, the people have been reaching out to the authorities and requesting them not to fine the “hero” for his brave actions.
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Replaced!