July 30, 2009: Whale Tale

[xoxoxoBruce]

Got a whale of a tale to tell ya, lads
A whale of a tale or two
'Bout the flappin' fish and the girls I've loved
On nights like this with the moon above
A whale of a tale and it's all true
I swear by my tattoo

But that's for another time.

This whale tale happened in Harbin, north-east China.

It looks like a moment of terror - a diver finds her leg clamped in the jaws of a beluga whale. In fact, it was a stunning example of an animal coming to the rescue of a human life.

Yang Yun, 26, was taking part in a free diving contest without breathing equipment among the whales in a tank of water more than 20ft deep and chilled to Arctic temperatures. She says that when she tried to return to the surface, she found her legs crippled by cramp from the freezing cold. At that point Mila the beluga took a hand, or rather a flipper.

At depths of 20ft and below, the water pressure keeps a body down, particularly if, as in this case, the limbs are effectively paralysed by the cold.
Reliving the drama, Yang Yun said: 'I began to choke and sank even lower and I thought that was it for me - I was dead. 'Until I felt this incredible force under me driving me to the surface.'

Or Mila didn't want any dead girls littering her tank.

link