On Saturday, a modern-day William Tell shot an arrow tipped with four razor blades in Cape Cod Bay. The target? A right whale with rope stuck around its jaw. But because this is 2010, not 1810, the goal was to sever the rope from the ensnared whale, who, according to , had been carrying it around for more than two years and was now at risk of infection. Previous attempts to cut the rope were unsuccessful.
So, a new technique was needed. Cue Scott Landry, director of the Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team and, apparently, a crossbow expert. Because right whales are evasive animals, Landry (who was part of a team from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies) had only one shot to try and snap the rope as the animal breached for a breath of air. Somewhat miraculously, it worked, and the whale (dubbed Wart) was not injured. We'd love to know if crossbow training comes standard with a job at the Marine Animal Entanglement Response Team.
Video below is of right whales in Cape Cod Bay from 2008.
— Jennifer L. Schwartz