Following the discovery of a whale carcass off the Danish island of Anholt, authorities have now confirmed the deceased animal is the humpback whale known as "Timmy." Evidence including a tracker found on the whale proved its identity, according to statements from Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) on Saturday.
The humpback whale had wandered the German Baltic Sea coast for weeks and was released via cargo barge off Denmark's northern tip following multiple strandings by a private rescue initiative.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Backhaus expressed regret over the whale's death. Danish experts have "established beyond doubt" that the humpback whale washed up near the island of Anholt is Timmy, he stated. "Final certainty came today with the discovery of a tracker on the whale."
The humpback whale, which was also called "Hope" in addition to Timmy, was first spotted in the port of Wismar on March 3. The animal subsequently continued wandering and stranded multiple times off Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
After several failed rescue attempts, Backhaus gave the green light in mid-April for a rescue attempt by a private initiative. The costs of an estimated 1.5 million euros were borne by entrepreneur Karin Walter-Mommert and MediaMarkt co-founder Walter Gunz.
Timmy was transported to the North Sea on a cargo barge and towed into open water in the Kattegat, a sea area between Denmark and Sweden, on May 2. On Thursday, the whale's carcass was finally spotted off the island of Anholt.
Backhaus stated he shared the hope of many people "that it would be possible to release the whale back into freedom." Unfortunately, the animal was unable to take advantage of its chance. The minister defended the private initiative's attempt to rescue Timmy. It was "absolutely human to take even the slightest chance," he said.
"It was always about weighing which option was the worst: waiting for the animal's certain death in agony or giving it a final chance while exposing it to possible stress," Backhaus added.
Experts had rejected the transport of the presumably severely ill and heavily weakened animal. The German Oceanographic Museum, for example, stated after the whale's release that it assumed the animal would die. According to their assessment, the marine mammal likely lacked the strength for prolonged swimming. The fate of Timmy and the handling of the whale had generated headlines and debates for weeks.
Backhaus announced that discussions will now be held with Danish authorities about what should be done with the whale carcass. Talks with the private rescue initiative are also planned.
The head of the responsible department at Denmark's Environmental Protection Agency, Jane Hansen, stated there are currently "no concrete plans" for recovering the whale or conducting an autopsy. Her agency stated that while it understands the "considerable public interest in this particular whale," people should maintain a "safety distance" from the dead whale.
The carcass could be "a carrier of diseases transmissible to humans," the agency warned. Due to gases released during the decomposition of the meters-long marine mammal, there is also a "risk of explosion."
Backhaus stated that now it is about "drawing the best possible lessons from what happened and orienting our actions accordingly in the future." "The whale's death should remind us to take nature, species protection, and climate protection even more seriously," the environment minister added.
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