A special barge carrying a humpback whale that was stranded in Germany had entered Danish waters by Wednesday afternoon and is expected to reach the North Sea in two days, local officials said.
The whale, dubbed ‘Timmy’ by German media, was coaxed into the vessel in a last-ditch rescue attempt on Tuesday after a weeks-long struggle for survival on the Baltic Sea coast.
The ship Fortuna B, which is towing the barge, was located between the islands of Langeland and Lolland in southeastern Denmark at around 1400 GMT, according to the VesselFinder website.
‘If everything goes well, he'll be in the North Sea in two days. The very worst is already behind him now,’ Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, told the Bild daily.
Speaking to reporters on the island of Poel, where the whale was most recently stranded, Backhaus said the animal was ‘doing well’ and had made sounds during the night.
Backhaus thanked rescuers for their ‘wonderful’ effort in ‘an exceptional situation that is hardly comparable anywhere in the world in this form’.
The whale had been struggling for more than a month around the German coast, getting stuck on sandbanks and then managing to free itself again several times.
At the start of April, officials gave up on trying to rescue the animal, saying they believed it could not be saved.
But this triggered an outcry and authorities were persuaded to approve a privately financed rescue plan proposed by two wealthy entrepreneurs.
The barge idea was hatched after their initial attempt to save the whale with inflatable cushions and pontoons was unsuccessful.
The rescue effort was seen as a long shot and criticised by experts who said it would only cause the animal more distress.
The whale's ordeal has sparked a media frenzy — with non-stop coverage from TV channels, online outlets and social media influencers — but has also led to angry spats and conspiracy theories.
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