After a week of intense rescue efforts, authorities on Germany’s Baltic coast have set up a restricted zone around a humpback whale stranded off the island of Poel so the animal can “die in peace.”
“We did everything we could to give it a chance. This is a unique tragedy. But it chose this path for himself,” said Till Backhaus, environment minister for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The whale initially beached at Timmendorf Beach on March 23 and later became stuck again in Wismar Bay.
At a press conference, Backhaus said “we have explored all ideas” and announced no further attempts would be made to free the animal. Officials report the whale is lying in shallow water, showing very weak and irregular breathing and barely moving.
Rescue expert Burkard Baschek said all efforts had been exhausted and survival prospects were nil. “We would have to encourage it vigorously [to free itself], which would be futile because it no longer has the strength,” Baschek said, adding that further attempts to move the whale could amount to animal cruelty. He said rescuers had decided that, out of respect for nature, “at some point we must let it go.”
The young male humpback, native to the North Atlantic and estimated at 12–15 meters (39–49 feet), has been wandering the Baltic Sea for about four weeks. It first stranded on a sandbank off Schleswig-Holstein and was freed using excavators and dredges, but later ran aground again. Experts briefly helped it escape on Monday using acoustic stimuli, only for it to become stranded anew the following afternoon.
German media have nicknamed the whale “Timmy.” Rescuers report the animal suffers severe skin problems linked to the Baltic’s low salinity and still has remnants of fishing nets in its mouth, only partly removed. The Baltic Sea also offers limited feeding opportunities, though humpbacks can endure long periods without eating.
Authorities noted the whale had been breathing and moving but had not changed position. Officials initially allowed the weakened animal time to recover, but by Tuesday evening its overall prognosis had deteriorated. Baschek said the whale’s “reaction to our presence was virtually zero.”
If the whale dies, its body will be taken to the German Oceanographic Museum for investigation into the cause of death.
Edited by: Alex Berry