All too often, creatures of the sea are found tormented by the detritus of human industry. In the waters of southwest Australia’s Ningaloo Reef, a gentle giant found itself in distress; fortunately, a conscientious human crossed paths with it just in the nick of time.
The manta ray was one that Wilton had seen before. Dubbed “Freckles” by the locals for its distinctive belly pattern, Wilton looked closer at the ray and realized that he and Halls were being pursued for a reason; Freckles was in distress and “asking” for help.
The moving footage shows the 30-year-old manta ray approaching Wilton, as if pleading for help to remove fish hooks that had become embedded in its right eye. She appeared to know and trust the diver, and Wilton immediately understood what he had to do.
Wilton’s instincts were correct. Foreign objects that puncture the skin of marine creatures can cause fatal infections. If Freckles hadn’t found Wilton that day and if the fish hooks had moved, she could have been at significant risk of blindness.
Wilton worked diligently; Halls said the manta ray remained perfectly still throughout the procedure. “I went down for one last try,” Wilton regaled, “and the manta stayed completely still in the water.”
After finishing his rescue mission, successfully withdrawing the hooks, Wilton swam triumphantly to the surface of the water. Freckles, freed from the devastating grip of the fish hooks, gracefully swam away.
While large manta rays may look threatening, they do not have an external spike like stingrays do and are completely harmless to humans. In fact, they have the largest brains of any fish and are renowned for their intelligence.
While Freckles and Wilton’s heartwarming interaction is something to be celebrated, there’s a darker reality lurking beneath the surface. Countless marine animals are harmed as a result of the debris left behind by humans every single year, and few of them are saved the way Freckles was.
It’s a step in the right direction for protecting innocent marine creatures like Freckles.