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Once hunted to near extinction, North Atlantic right whales are now facing new human threats that could end the species. Here are the people risking their lives to save them.

For whale rescuer Mackie Greene, there’s no feeling in the world like seeing fishing ropes slip free from a trapped whale.

“It’s almost like you could get out of the boat and run home,” he says.

“It’s like you’re bouncing that high – and they must be able to hear us for miles cause you’re hollering and hooting and the whole way in.”

There’s a flipside though: the times when the Campobello Whale Rescue Team head home with little to show for their efforts.

That was the case when they returned to Shippagan, a New Brunswick fishing village, after a long day on the…