When compassion wins out over science Timmy ends up as the symbol of a controversial rescue attempt

For weeks, humpback whale "Timmy" moved people in German-speaking countries. Now the animal lies dead off the coast of Denmark. Experts are vindicated and point out that whales as a whole are endangered.

Keystone-SDA

17.05.2026, 13:17

17.05.2026, 16:53

SDA

A humpback whale stranded several times off the German Baltic coast. Probably weak and sick. It has come to die in peace, according to many experts.

A private initiative with generous donors undertakes to transport it back to the open sea at enormous expense - despite all the warnings from renowned organizations.

Just under two weeks later, this very whale beached dead off the Danish island of Anholt. Numerous seagulls feast on its carcass. So ends the story of "Timmy" - probably the first humpback whale whose nickname is known throughout Germany.

When the dead whale was spotted on Thursday, there was great excitement in Germany: is it "Timmy" or not? A piece of the whale's tail fin was cut off in order to obtain certainty through laboratory analysis.

But in the end, it was a GPS transmitter attached to the whale that brought certainty: the private initiative that shipped the whale to the North Sea by barge had attached it in order to be able to track where the animal was.

A veterinarian from the initiative who had traveled to Anholt, together with two Danish divers, finally found the tracker with the same serial number on the whale, according to the authorities.

Dead whale off the island of AnholtDanish authority confirms: It's "Timmy" - tracker found

This also makes it clear that the private initiative's rescue operation has failed. The whale, which had been stranded several times on the coast of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, was brought into the open sea by the private initiative with the help of a barge and released into the North Sea on 2 May, around 70 kilometers from Skagen.

The location is several hundred kilometers away from the island of Anholt. After its release, it remained unclear what happened to the whale, as the Ministry of the Environment in Schwerin - contrary to what had been announced - had not received any location data.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) as well as experts from the German Oceanographic Museum and other renowned organizations had assessed the whale's long-term chances of survival as very low and strongly advised against the action. They said that the animal had presumably allowed itself to become stranded several times in order to die in peace.

In the end, the venture ended in a row because the initiative, the authorities and the shipping company involved reproached each other over the procedures surrounding the transport and release, and the initiative pointed out in a statement that no conclusive statement could be made as to what ultimately led to the animal's death.

This again raises the question of whether the whale rescuers unnecessarily prolonged the suffering of the young humpback whale - and whether the minimal chance of saving its life justifies the weeks-long action.

However, the entrepreneurs Walter Gunz and Karin Walter-Mommert and their fellow campaigners were not dissuaded from their plans. The donors kept the immense costs of the campaign a secret.

Giants of the seasEveryone is watching Timmy the whale - but how are his fellow whales faring?

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) justified giving the go-ahead: Many people had taken a great interest in the animal's fate and had hoped that it would be possible to release the whale back into the wild.

Scientists had not been able to rule out the possibility that the whale could survive despite its certainly poor state of health. "That's why my house decided to tolerate the salvage attempt. Unfortunately, the animal was not able to take its chance." The SPD politician does not want his decision to be seen as a criticism of science.

Thilo Maack from Greenpeace told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "With this mortal discovery, this partly absurd story has now come to an end. The lesson that can be learned from this is that it really makes sense to listen to science and turn attention from the individual fate of this pitiful animal to a bigger problem" - namely the countless whales and dolphins that die in agony as bycatch in fishing nets.

Haphazard and full of hopeWhat the controversial whale rescue says about Germany

Whale researcher and co-founder of the non-profit whale and dolphin protection association "M.E.E.R.", Fabian Ritter, emphasizes in an interview with the German Press Agency: "So the number of victims is higher than at the height of the brutal whaling era." Rethinking the causes - especially fishing and its methods - is therefore the order of the day.

The number of victims is greater than at the height of the brutal whaling era, explains Ritter. Rethinking the causes - especially fishing and its methods - is therefore the order of the day.

In addition to fishing, waste in the oceans and the climate crisis with rising sea temperatures are the main threats to whales, as the organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) explains: This changes habitats and animals have to adapt their behaviour, which makes them weaker and more susceptible to diseases or other problems.

Hope in the Baltic Sea dramaHumpback whale still in the bay +++ "It wasn't that active"

Environment Minister Backhaus announced that he would clarify with the Danish authorities what should be done with the dead animal. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency said that there were no plans to remove the whale or to examine the carcass more closely. The dead whale is not currently considered to be a problem. There is also a risk of an explosion.

According to experts, dead whales can explode because the decomposition process produces gases that cannot escape through the thick layer of blubber on their skin.

The Danish authorities also stated that they understand the interest in "this particular whale". However, it is also important to keep a safe distance and not to approach the animal because the whale can carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans.

Whale strandings occur from time to time along Denmark's extensive coastline - but the way the Danes deal with them could not be further removed from what happened to "Timmy". The corresponding preparedness plan for stranded marine mammals from the environmental authority Miljøstyrelsen states: