Humpback whale struggles to escape German waters

The young humpback whale, named Timmy by rescuers, is trying to find his way out of shallow bays on Germany’s Baltic coast after a week of ordeal that has left his survival in doubt.

Standing between 12 and 15 meters tall, Timmy’s case demonstrates the difficulty of releasing such creatures given their size; rescuers are using dredging equipment and boats to take the whale back on the long route back to the Atlantic.

After days of efforts to save the animal, rescuers hope the whale will manage to escape on his own.

“The whale is quite weak. We are still hopeful that it will survive,” Daniela von Schaper, a marine expert from Greenpeace, told Reuters.

The whale, whose gender has not been determined, was named after Timmendorfer Strand, a white-sand beach on Germany’s resort-studded Baltic coastline, where it was first spotted on a nearby beach on Monday.

Repeated rescue attempts have since failed, as Greenpeace and its partners documented an animal under severe stress with irritated skin and fishing gear wrapped around its mouth.

There were brief glimmers of hope over the weekend, when the whale managed to free itself twice before running into difficulty again.

Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic Sea.

Although rare, large whales are seen in the region every few years, according to von Schaper.

Environmentalists say disruption of migration routes and human impact have played a role in whale strandings around the world, but the animals can also become lost while searching for food.

“Some find their way out again, some unfortunately do not,” von Schaper said. he said.