Danish authorities say a whale has been sighted dead off the island of Anholt. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency reported the animal appears to have been dead for some time. Media and officials estimate the carcass is a stranded humpback roughly 10 to 15 meters (33–50 feet) long, seen about 75 meters from shore.
Officials planned to retrieve the whale on Friday and later collected tissue samples to determine whether the animal is the humpback known as “Timmy.” “This possibility cannot be ruled out,” spokesperson Dorte Kofoed said.
Timmy is the nickname given to a young humpback first spotted on March 3 near Timmendorfer Beach on Germany’s Baltic coast, far from the species’ typical Atlantic range. Over several weeks the whale repeatedly became stranded in shallow water, and its condition worsened with each event.
After rescue efforts in Germany initially failed and authorities briefly abandoned attempts to save the animal, a private company persuaded local officials to try a final plan. That operation involved guiding the whale into a dredged channel and onto a water-filled barge for transport. Timmy survived a multi-day voyage and was released into the North Sea about 70 kilometers (roughly 44 miles) off Denmark earlier in May.
Some scientists warned the long journey and repeated strandings may have exhausted the whale and contributed to a severe decline in health. The Danish Environment Ministry has said it is not planning rescue actions if the whale beaches, describing beaching as a natural phenomenon and saying whales should not be disturbed or forcibly rescued in such situations.
Authorities will use the collected samples to confirm the whale’s identity. The situation has prompted renewed debate about human intervention in marine mammal strandings and the risks of moving stressed animals over long distances.
This report was edited by Sean Sinico.