After a humpback whale got stuck in an illegal fishing net in the Sea of Cortez, she struggled to the point of exhaustion. Eventually, she stopped moving and waited for her inevitable death.

Luckily, a crew from Sea Shepherd, a nonprofit marine conservation organization, came along just in the nick of time. They knew the whale had to be set free immediately and got to work trying to remove the illegal net.

Watch as these heroes do everything they can to untangle the humpback whale.

Far too many fishermen use synthetic nets and then leave them in the ocean, and trying to stop them has been a challenge. According to National Geographic, these nets can kill up to 1,000 marine mammals every day.

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