Wilma the Whale
About me
I spend my summer holiday in Antarctica, and then every winter I travel up to Queensland to hang out with my buddies. I only travel through Sydney on my long journey between Queensland and Antarctica so you may only see me between April and November.
Trust me when I say, it is a really long swim and I often don't get much time to eat along the way. I like to minimise my energy so that I can complete my journey safely. But of course I am a whale so you will hear me singing and see me slapping my tail along the way.
I am a Humpback Whale, but my cousins like the Southern Right Whale also travel up and down the coast of Sydney. You could even see my rare cousin the Blue Whale if you are lucky!
Why the shark nets are dangerous for us
Over the last decade one of my friends has been caught in the shark nets on average once every 2 years. This year one of my friends was caught in a similar shark net in Queensland in July 2021. Getting caught in a net is bad news for us. We are so big that we get completely entangled and its really hard work for those humans to get me out.
Whilst I can hold my breath for 45mins I typically like to hold my breath for about 10mins at a time, so getting caught in the net is a really stressful experience. Many times we have to carry on our journey dragging a portion of the net because it gets so hard to remove it fully from our body.