‘Timmy’, the humpback whale which found itself stranded off Germany’s northern coast in March, has been confirmed deceased in Danish waters.
The whale had been transported to the North Sea in a water-filled barge during a donor-funded rescue operation in May.
Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency first announced it had found a whale carcass on Friday, May 15.
The agency later confirmed that it was the body of the whale from Germany after identifying its GPS tracker.
“It can now be confirmed that the stranded humpback whale near Anholt is the same whale that was previously stranded in Germany and was the subject of rescue attempts,” announced Jane Hansen, division head at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
Beached
The whale was first spotted stranded off Germany’s Baltic coast, near the island of Poel, on March 23.
Causing a media frenzy, the whale was given the nickname ‘Timmy’.
After an official rescue attempt by authorities failed and Timmy’s health rapidly declined, the rescue attempt was called off.
In early May, two German millionaires said they would fund a private operation.
Walter Gunz, founder of Media Markt, and Karin Walter-Mommert donated around €1.5 million ($1.74 million) in total for the project.
This later attempt was criticised by animal rights activists who described moving the whale in critical condition as “cruelty” and urged that it be left alone to die in peace.
Cruel or kind?
The German Oceanographic Museum said the whale was too weak to survive and Whale and Dolphin Conservation said the lack of salt in the water had injured the whale too much.
However, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s environment minister, Till Backhaus, hailed the success of the rescue at the time and called it an “example for Germany of what can be done”.
Whilst the rescue effort did succeed in freeing Timmy, the whale ultimately succumbed to its injuries.
Tragic end
According to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, “there are no concrete plans to remove the whale from the area or to perform a necropsy, and it is not currently considered to pose a problem in the area”.
It also urged people to stay away from the carcass, as it could potentially pass on diseases to humans, or explode due to gas build-up.
Backhaus thanked the agency for identifying Timmy, regretting that the whale did not “seize its slim chance” at survival.
He also stood by his earlier praise of the rescue.
“I consider it completely human to make use of even the slimmest of chances, when a life is at stake. Whoever wishes to criticize that may do so,” Backhaus added.
“It was always about weighing the balance between which option was the worst: Waiting for the certain death of the animal as it suffered, or giving him a last chance and exposing him to potential stress in the process.”
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