Inspiring stories HERE!

[Hopalong]

Hi everyone,
As my holiday gift to all of you, thought I'd share a story someone told at the Vespers service last night that touched me very much.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/14/MNGNKG7Q0V1.DTL

A large female humpback whale was found Dec. 13th off the coast of California, totally entangled in fishing nets. It even had crab pots hanging off it. It was weak and had to struggle to make the surface for air. The fisherman who spotted it radioed and persuaded a team of divers to come to the spot.

These divers clambered all over the whale for an hour cutting the snarled net off--including a rope that went through its mouth. It stayed perfectly calm and still, though it could have killed any of them with one whack of its tail. One said that he stayed near its head and that the whale's eye watched him the entire time.

When the last of the net fell off (the whale had obviously been bound for a long time)...the whale sought out each individual diver and nudged them before it turned away and swam off.

Hopalong

[Healing&Hopeful]

Wow, that is amazing Hoppy!!  Thanks for sharing.

[Sela]

Thankyou Hoppy!

What a lovely gift that story is!

And to think that whale has better manners than some people!!

I agree with H&H......amazing!

  Sela

[Hopalong]

It was even better than I thought...I went and read all the stories I could find on it. Evidently the whale did NOT swim off and leave the divers. She nudged and played around each one of them and was so friendly--this is a 5-ton creature waaaay out in deep water---that the divers eventually got in their dinghy and left. The whale seemed to have no intention of leaving them, she was still saying Thank You!

Okay, I'll quit. I get totally besotted with these kinds of animal stories since they seem to be where love is. Really is. Would you believe the only video I've ever owned is BABE? Sigggghh.

Hops

[CeeMee]

Portia I hope your are reading this whale story.  I know you would love it too. 

Okay, I remember a similar animal story on TV.  One of those reality video shows.  A child fell over the zoo's railing at the primate compound.  He landed quite a ways down and was knocked unconscious.  One of the gorillas realized something was wrong and came over to the boy and tried to rouse him with a nudge.  When he didn't move, the gorilla stood by him and kept the other gorillas at bay until the paramedics arrived and hoisted him out of there.  This was all shown on tv.  I cried about that one.  It so touched me.  At the same time, I couldn't help but think about one of the most heartbreaking movies for me, Gorillas in the Mist.  When I first learned about gorilla poaching for their heads and hands, I was beside myself with grief.

CeeMee

[miss piggy]

Thank you Hops!!!   

I had heard about the whale but this story was the best!  Hadn't heard about the thank yous.  Sooo wonderful.

Your post is a bit of synchronicity for me, since I just had a dream featuring a whale sending out huge waves with its tail.  I often dream of whales and dolphins.  Those dreams are usually the really encouraging ones. 

So thank you again for this encouraging story! 

MP

[Plucky]

This is beautiful.  Thank you. Sometimes I wish I was a different species.
Plucky