What Did the Rescue Team Do to Prepare?
On June 9, 2001, with the aid of the NOAA fisheries airborne team, the Center for Coastal Studies disentanglement team relocated #1102, documented his wounds and the entanglement, and tethered a buoy fitted with both satellite and VHF transmitters, weighing about 35 pounds, to a piece of the trailing line which exits the mouth on the left side of the animal. Line was visible exiting both sides of the mouth with the line on the right side considerably shorter. Because the line was deep into the upper jaw, rescuers felt that they could not remove or reduce the line without restraining the whale in some manner to make it safe for people to work near its head to cut the embedded line. On June 11, Center for Coastal Studies and NOAA Fisheries initiated consultations with whale biologists and veterinarians about the possibilities for disentangling this animal. From June 12-18, plans were made to sedate the whale and use a tail harness to safely restrain the animal. The rescue team eventually
