Final preparations are reportedly under way for a millionaire-funded plan to tow a sickly humpback whale, nicknamed Timmy, into the North Sea. The 12-tonne whale has been stranded on the Baltic Sea coastline for almost a month. A barge resembling a giant steel aquarium will attempt to transport Timmy 400km towards the North Sea, and then hopefully back to the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission, known as Operation Cushion, is scheduled to start on Tuesday. Rescue workers said the animal was positioned in the right direction in the water on Sunday. The state's environment minister, Till Backhaus, told Bild: "[It] is interesting, it turned 90 degrees – and in the right direction. It seems to be preparing itself mentally and emotionally for departure."
First spotted in the Baltic Sea last month, the whale has been lying in the mud off the island of Poel in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for more than three weeks. The water contains far too little salt to sustain it. After experts said the whale was dying and a rescue operation would only stress the animal, a private initiative was launched, funded by two prominent millionaires.
The initiative plans to lift the 10-metre-long whale with air cushions, stretching a net beneath it to suspend it in a pontoon structure. The pontoon would then be towed into deeper waters by a tugboat. The whale's plight has attracted hundreds of onlookers, including tourists from across Europe, who have travelled to Poel to watch the spectacle.
Critics, however, say the team has little experience and accuse it of trying to politically manipulate the situation. Burkard Baschek, director of the Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund, said he believes the rescue effort will be in vain. "A rescue attempt … is no longer worthwhile," he told Die Zeit, calling it "pure animal cruelty".
Backhaus, who backs the new initiative, has been placed under extra police protection after receiving threats from members of the public who accused him of giving up on the whale too soon. He told Die Zeit: "I won't be blackmailed." The museum denies accusations that its scientists wanted the whale dead to secure its skeleton.
