Whale approached fishermen for help getting fishing line and plastic bag out of its mouth

Two teenagers from Sydney, Australia, went to the rescue of a stricken whale after it swam up to their boat entangled in fishing line and a plastic bag and "asked for help".



Ivan Iskenderian and friend Michael Riggio were returning from a fishing trip on Tuesday afternoon when they came across the whale in Middle Harbour, near Manly.





Another fisherman, Ron Kovacs, was also on the water and filmed Mr Iskenderian reaching down and removing the debris. "It was right on his lip ... he seemed like he wanted it off," Mr Iskenderian said.


YouTube link.

Freed from the potentially life-threatening irritation, Mr Iskenderian said the mammal "slapped its fin" on the water to show its gratitude as it swam away. "It was surreal, we couldn’t believe our eyes," Mr Iskenderian said.