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dpatopbilder - A work platform with an excavator is in use near the beached whale off the Baltic Sea island of Poel. The whale's back is covered with cloth. A new rescue attempt has been launched for the humpback whale stranded near Wismar. The concept is to be implemented by a private initiative. Photo: Marcus Golejewski/dpa
Keystone
The humpback whale that has been stranded off the Baltic coast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for almost three weeks is swimming. This could be seen on live streams on the internet. It changed direction several times. The marine mammal had been stuck in Wismar Bay off the island of Poel since March 31.
Janine Bahr-van Gemmert, head veterinarian of the private initiative, told the news agency dpa that they were on their way to the harbor. Boats are at the ready.
The representatives of the rescue initiative on Poel recently considered themselves to be on track and on schedule. The whale had shown "great reactions" and a lot of vitality on Sunday morning. On Sunday, they did not rule out the possibility that the approximately twelve-metre-long marine mammal would swim free on its own. In this case, "Plan B" would apply. "This means that the DLRG boats are on standby so that we can guide him in the event that he swims away. And it is ensured that we can guide him into the North Sea and then across the North Sea into the Atlantic," said lawyer Constanze von der Meden from the private rescue initiative.
One financier of the campaign, Mediamarkt co-founder Walter Gunz, was more pessimistic. The whale is fully aware that it is completely free. The question is therefore "whether this whale can still be guided".
Until now, the plan was to pass a tarpaulin attached between pontoons - i.e. floating platforms - under the whale. This would be used to retrieve it from the shallow area and later bring it towards the North Sea. The pontoons will be pulled by a tugboat on a long line. According to the authorities, the net tarpaulin on which the animal is to be transported between pontoons into the North Sea and the Atlantic was already in the water.
According to measurements by the Ministry of the Environment, the humpback whale is 12.35 meters long, 3.20 meters wide and 1.60 meters high. The weakened whale has been lying in Wismar Bay off the island of Poel for 20 days.
DLRG boats were recently underway between the harbor in Kirchdorf and the whale lying off the island of Poel, and were also on site to secure the emergency personnel.
According to reports, the whale had been repeatedly surfacing on the Baltic coast since the beginning of March, first in the port of Wismar, later in the Bay of Lübeck and on the coast near Steinbeck (district of Northwest Mecklenburg). The animal had repeatedly become entangled in nets. Emergency services and marine conservationists from the Sea Shepherd organization freed it from some of the material. The whale was stuck several times.
20.04.2026, 08:17
