The carcass of a humpback whale, affectionately named 'Timmy', was brought ashore on a Danish beach on Saturday, ending a months-long public saga. The juvenile male had been found dead and stranded off the island of Anholt in the Kattegat strait on 14 May, after languishing in shallow waters for two weeks.
Timmy first appeared off the German coast on 3 March, sparking widespread attention and a contentious rescue effort. On 2 May, he was transported by barge towards the North Sea in a final attempt to return him to the Atlantic, with a GPS tracker attached. However, the whale's health had deteriorated, and experts at the German Oceanographic Museum had warned that his poor condition made a successful rescue unlikely.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency will conduct a necropsy this week to determine the cause of death. Timmy's journey into the Baltic Sea, far from his natural habitat, puzzled experts, who suggested he may have lost his way while following a shoal of herring or during migration. He suffered from a skin condition due to the Baltic's low salt content and was often seen breathing irregularly and barely moving.
The rescue effort, financed by two millionaires including Karin Walter-Mommert, sparked debate over whether to let the whale die peacefully or intervene. Timmy's carcass was dragged ashore by a truck on the beach, as shown in a livestream by Danish outlet News5.
