Dead whale off the island of Anholt Danish authority confirms: It's "Timmy" - tracker found
Examination of the dead whale off the Danish island of Anholt. Then the confirmation: It's Timmy.
Image: Keystone/dpa/Marcus Golejewski
According to the authorities, the whale that surfaced off Denmark has presumably been dead for some time.
Image: dpa
A feast for the seagulls: the dead whale off Anholt.
Image: dpa
The whale is now lying on its back.
Image: dpa
Examination of the dead whale off the Danish island of Anholt. Then the confirmation: It's Timmy.
Image: Keystone/dpa/Marcus Golejewski
According to the authorities, the whale that surfaced off Denmark has presumably been dead for some time.
Image: dpa
A feast for the seagulls: the dead whale off Anholt.
Image: dpa
The whale is now lying on its back.
Image: dpa
A dead whale lies off the Danish island of Anholt. Is it the Baltic humpback whale known as "Timmy"? Samples should bring certainty - but the result could be a long time coming.
16.05.2026, 16:33
16.05.2026, 17:48
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- A dead humpback whale has been discovered off the Danish island of Anholt.
- A tracker was found on the animal - one was pinned to Timmy when he was released.
- The authorities have now confirmed that it is indeed Timmy.
Is it or isn't it? After a humpback whale stranded in the Baltic Sea dominated the headlines for weeks, a dead whale has surfaced off the Danish coast almost two weeks after its risky transport to the North Sea and controversial release. Is it the Baltic Sea whale known as "Timmy"?
The authorities have now confirmed that it is indeed Timmy. A tracker attached to the animal when it was released was found, according to the Ministry of the Environment in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
Seagulls peck at the carcass
There are currently no plans to remove the whale carcass, said Morten Abildstrøm from the nature conservation authority. As it is far from the beach, it is not disturbing anyone, he said, adding that several dozen seagulls are currently feeding on the dead animal. Since the stranding on Thursday, numerous seagulls have been flocking around the animal and pecking at the carcass lying about 75 meters off the beach.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency urged people on the island to stay away from the whale carcass, wrote the newspaper "Ekstra Bladet". Any pathogens could be transmitted from the dead animal to humans. There is also a risk that the whale could explode due to putrefactive gases.
Weeks of hype surrounding the whale
The humpback whale stranded off the German coast made headlines for weeks. The whale, which had stranded several times on the coast of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, had been brought into the open sea by the private initiative with the help of a barge and released into the Skagerrak about 70 kilometers from Skagen on 2 May.
After its release, it remained unclear what happened to the whale. Even around two weeks after the release, there was no known or confirmed data on where the animal was. Experts from animal welfare organizations had unanimously assessed the whale's long-term chances of survival as very low.
