The humpback whale that became a public spectacle after repeated strandings along Europe’s Baltic Sea reached a new milestone this week: Danish authorities said the animal found dead off the island of Anholt was the same whale that had been released in early May following a protracted effort. The whale was stranded on Thursday just off Anholt in the Kattegat, the strait between Denmark and Sweden that links the Baltic Sea with the North Sea, according to the Associated Press report published May 16.
In an emailed statement, Jane Hansen, head of division at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, said it could “now be confirmed” that the stranded humpback whale near Anholt was the same animal previously stranded in Germany and the subject of rescue attempts. Hansen said Danish Nature Agency staff were able to locate and retrieve a tracking device on Saturday, and that “the position and appearance of the device confirm” it was the same whale that had been observed and handled in German waters.
The May 2 release came after the whale—nicknamed “Timmy” and “Hope” by German media—was transported toward the North Sea in a barge after being guided away from Germany’s Baltic coast. The AP report placed the release site about 70 kilometers (around 45 miles) from Skagen on Denmark’s northern tip, from a region described as connected to the later Anholt stranding.
The rescue attempt drew attention because of the whale’s long and deteriorating course in the Baltic area. The whale was first spotted swimming near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3, far from its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean, and authorities said it was not clear why it entered the Baltic. The AP report noted that some experts suggested the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.
As the whale moved between shallow areas and rescue interventions, the situation escalated into public controversy. The Associated Press said the whale was rescued from shallow water in the German Baltic resort town of Timmendorfer Strand in late March with the help of an excavator, but that it soon ran into trouble again nearby. The report also said local media produced livestreams and news sites followed developments, while experts and others disagreed over whether further intervention would add stress for an exhausted animal.
By early April, experts in the German reporting said they had given up hope, expecting the whale to die in the inlet where it was stranded at the time. But activists and other privately funded rescuers later pushed for additional action, and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s regional government allowed the private initiative to continue. The AP report said that initiative aimed to pull the whale onto a flooded barge, and that German news agency dpa reported the rescue team had matched the tracking device found on the animal with the one previously attached.
On Saturday, environment minister Till Backhaus said the effort gave the whale “a last chance to recover its freedom and health,” but it had not been able to take that chance. Backhaus also said it would be important to learn “the best possible lessons” from the episode, while stressing in a statement that “acquiescing to the rescue attempt doesn’t constitute criticism of science.” He added: “I think it is absolutely human to use even the smallest chance when a life is at stake.”
Danish authorities said they had not yet decided what would happen with the dead whale. Hansen said “at this time, there are no concrete plans to remove the whale from the area or to perform a necropsy,” and that it was not currently considered to pose a problem in the area, but she said people should stay away because it may carry diseases and other risks.