A diver in New Zealand frees a killer whale that was entangled in a fishing rope. Rhys Cochrane admits he was scared when he was cutting the line adding “about five other orcas including one massive bull, came around.”
Once Cochrane cut the rope, he says the animal quickly swam away.
Dr. Ingrid Visser, an orca expert in New Zealand, looked at Cochrane’s video of the ordeal and believes the teeth marks on the trapped orca came from other orca pod members trying to get the rope off.
Although Cochrane’s rescue was harmless, Dr. Visser reminds swimmers to not engage with killer whales because they are predators. No attack on a human by an orca has ever been recorded in the wild. Orcas are not yet regarded as an endangered species.