Timmy, the stranded humpback whale, found dead off Danish coast

TimmyA young humpback whale stranded in shallow waters for weeks was found dead just off the coast of Denmark just weeks after a controversial rescue effort, according to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency. release him.

“The humpback whale stranded near Anholt is the same whale that was previously stranded in Germany and was the subject of rescue attempts,” Jane Hansen, division head of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, told CNN on Saturday.

The agency confirmed the whale’s identity after one of its employees found and returned the faulty tracking device that had been attached to it during the rescue attempt.

“The location and appearance of the device confirm that this is the same whale that was previously observed and handled in German waters,” Hansen said.

Timmy was found Friday near the island of Anholt, in the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden, about 130 kilometers from where he was released.

He was first seen entangled in a fishing net in the port of Wismar at the beginning of March and had to be rescued by emergency services. Then, at the end of March, he became stranded when he became lost in shallow waters near the town of Timmendorfer Strand, which gave him his nickname, on Germany’s northern coast. This led to an extensive rescue effort and widespread media coverage as the whale’s ordeal was broadcast live around the world. However, rescue teams could not save the whale and stopped their work due to the deterioration of its health.

But another privately funded rescue attempt, which sent Timmy swimming to a barge before sending him out to sea, went ahead despite warnings from scientists that the whale was too weak to survive.

While stranded, he spent days barely moving, breathing erratically, and suffering from a nasty skin condition caused by the low salt content of the Baltic Sea.

Such warnings meant that the rescue was mired in controversy.
According to critics, this represented a form of animal cruelty and caused severe stress to the whale for no reason.

“I believe the whale will die very soon,” Greenpeace marine biologist Thilo Maack told The Associated Press in April as rescuers attempted to free Timmy. “I also want to ask the question: What’s actually so bad about this?… Yes, animals live, animals die. This animal is really, really, really sick. And it decided to rest.”

But according to others, such as Till Backhaus, the state’s environment secretary, who allowed the private rescue effort to go ahead, it was a normal response to “take even the slightest chance when a life is at stake,” he told the AP.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency added that there were no plans to remove Timmy’s body because it was “not currently thought to pose a problem in the area.”

People were urged to keep a safe distance and not approach the whale for health reasons and in case the whale explodes.

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