One of Mandurah's resident dolphins is in hot water after becoming entangled in fishing line earlier this month.
Luca, who frequents The Cut in Mandurah, has evaded the rescue efforts of Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) wildlife officers over the past month.
DBCA wildlife officer Matt Swan said trying to help Luca had proven to be a challenge.
"The problem we have is that Luca's mum is one of the best mums you'll ever find and Luca's mum, Laika, is really good at keeping Luca away from the jet skis," he said.
"One thing it tells us is that Luca is still quite fit and as bad as the entanglement looks, it's not as bad as everyone thinks.
"We've been going back to the drawing board over time to try to change our strategy and get Luca to do different things."
Luca became entangled previously in March, which took a team of seven DBCA wildlife officers, research experts and divers eight hours to free.
Mr Swan said Luca's current situation may be due to the injuries he sustained during his previous incident.
"This is the second entanglement Luca has suffered," he said.
"As a result of that first entanglement, he developed notches in his body.
"Now every time Luca brushes against something there's a high likelihood that he'll become entangled.
"Unfortunately, he has become really switched on and understands when we go down there we're going down there to catch him and because he's still quite fit he's able to evade us and evade capture."
Mr Swan said while the dolphin's condition is not desperate, it was still cause for serious concern.
"Luca actually has two entanglements; the one everyone can see is the green fishing line wrapped around the dorsal fin, for wildlife officers that's the least concerning, but there's actually another entanglement around one of the pectoral fins and that's the one that concerns us the most," he said.
"Dolphins survive quite well without a dorsal fin.
"When the entanglement's around the pectoral fin, so the fins on the side, we basically see a potentially fatal outcome."
The team of DBCA officers is receiving help from local wildlife groups such as the Mandurah Dolphin Watch and the Estuary Guardians Mandurah, who are providing updates on Luca's whereabouts.
Mr Swan said people should continue to report sightings of the dolphin but should keep their distance.
"We ask members of the public to please just give Luca a wide berth, we don't need people trying to take matters into their own hands," he said.
"We are aware of it, we are working on it, but Luca is still doing quite well so while he is still doing well we don't need to stress him.
"We would encourage people to get on Facebook and keep the [Estuary Guardians Mandurah] Facebook page updated."
If you see Luca, please contact Estuary Guardians Mandurah on their Facebook page or call the DBCA on 9219 9000.
