Rescue workers in northern Germany on Tuesday moved the stranded humpback whale, known as “Timmy,” to a specially converted cargo boat, which they plan to use to transport the marine mammal back to its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is believed that the animal lost its way in early March and drifted into the Baltic Sea.
It has been stranded in various locations for over a month, and has spent the last few weeks in a small bay area near Poel Island.
Hopes that the animal might survive were almost completely dashed at one point, but a private company convinced local authorities to make one last try by using a barge to get the lost animal back on the right track.
Whether this will work and whether the seriously ill whales will be able to survive the journey remains to be seen.
What did the officials say when the whale was lured to the barge?
After several hours, crews were able to encourage the whale to swim a short distance so they could transport it to a submerged storage area inside the barge on Tuesday afternoon.
By evening, “when the sea calms down, he will begin his journey in the direction of the North Sea – and then he will return to his natural habitat,” Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, told reporters.
The plan is to use the barge “Robin Hood” and a large tug ship, “Fortuna B”, to tow the whales further towards the North Sea or possibly towards the Atlantic Ocean. In recent weeks the mammal had repeatedly moved away at different times, usually only for short distances, and beached itself again in the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea.
Backhaus, who supporters say has been a dedicated and emotional contributor to the rescue operation and whose opponents say he deliberately jumped at the opportunity to be in the spotlight, said he “jumped into the water to help on the last few meters” toward the docking point.
He defended the decision to continue rescue efforts, even though the whales appeared close to death, amid criticism from some animal rights and marine life organizations.
“We worked together here day and night – and in the end we saved this creature,” he said.
Veterinarians are cautiously optimistic about the whale’s prospects
It is unclear how the whale will cope with this speed and whether it will be able to recover from illnesses suffered while stranded for weeks in the low salt content Baltic waters.
Still, veterinarian Kirsten Tönnies, who stepped in when the initial chief veterinary officer fell ill, offered cautiously positive comments Tuesday.
“Without whale expertise, I’m just a spare wheel here,” he said. But it said the whale was coaxed onto the barge without using excessive force and recommended halting the operation for safety reasons.
He said that in his estimation the whale was “by no means a doomed animal” and that it still had a chance of survival and recovery.
Edited by: Srinivas Majumdaru