This Wee Whale's Life Was Saved By Some Kindly Canadians

Warning: Things got a bit bloody.

Thanks to three kindly fellas in Digby, Nova Scotia, a young whale is swimming free once again.

Nathaniel Denton

Nathaniel Denton — a boatbuilder and commercial diver — was working on a lobster boat with work pals Barry O’Neil and Dallas Kenley when a strange sight interrupted them.

"One of the guys was at the stern of the boat and heard a noise in the water behind him," Denton told BuzzFeed Canada.

"He looked back and saw what he thought was a dolphin."

Then they realized it was something much bigger — a 16-foot long juvenile whale. They also realized it was in trouble because its beak was trapped in a fishing net.

Nathaniel Denton

They jumped in the water and got to work right away, cutting off the netting with a knife.

Nathaniel Denton

Denton said the net was wrapped around the whale's jaw several times, so tight it had "almost grown into its skin."

The removal caused some bleeding as the netting came off, though Denton said given the whale's size, it wasn't actually that much.

"The whole time cutting it off, it just sat there, calm as anything," said Denton. "It seemed like it understood what we were doing."

Nathaniel Denton

After a few minutes, they cut away all the netting. The whale sat there for a few minutes, then headed back out to open water.

"It seemed to quite happy swimming away," said Denton.

No one can say for sure whether the whale came to the waterfront looking for human assistance, but Denton said whales are known for their intelligence.

"On one hand it’s kind of a thought to make us feel important," said Denton. "But it seems that he was there looking for help."

And while the men are proud of their work, Denton doesn't consider himself a hero. "I feel like a person who did what a person should do," he said.

Nathaniel Denton