Timmy the humpback whale is presumed to have died after being released into a shipping lane
Facebook
Twitter
Flipboard
Send
Reddit
Linkedin
Messenger
Telegram
VK
Bluesky
Threads
Whatsapp
The entrepreneur-funded rescue effort said that it had fitted the previously stranded whale with a tracking device but this is suspected to be untrue.
Timmy, a humpback whale who caught the world's attention after becoming stranded in German waters, is "highly likely" to have died after being released from a barge into deep waters.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
After repeated failed attempts to free Timmy from shallow Baltic Sea waters, two entrepreneurs stepped forward to fund one last rescue effort, despite some scientists being sceptical that he could survive the journey.
"I can't even say how happy I am," Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the entrepreneurs financing the rescue bid, told the Bild newspaper at the time. "You could see that the whale fought and wanted to live."
However, it's now unclear how Timmy was released off the flooded barge and he is feared to be dead.
"It is unclear whether the animal swam free - or was simply dumped," writes Heiko Wenning in the Taz newspaper. Reports also emerged on social media that the crew of the ship were happy to finally be rid of "the bastard".
While he was beached it became clear that Timmy was in ill health, with some experts saying he may have chosen the shallow water as his final resting place. Others called for him to be left there to die in peace.
SUBHEAD
The private rescue initiative that had sailed Timmy to the North Sea had initially rejoiced. And to this day, some, who also call the animal 'Hope', are celebrating his "release".
But Dr Kirsten Tönnies, a vet from the private initiative, claims that she was not allowed to be present when the whale left the ship. She says the crew had released the marine mammal "totally prematurely" and "secretly".
The plan was to release the whale further west in the open North Sea. It was released around 70 kilometres north of Skagen in Denmark - in a busy shipping lane.
Marine biologists from the German Oceanographic Museum assume that Timmy is dead. "As the whale was in an extremely weakened condition and repeatedly beached itself after previous rescue attempts within a short period of time, it is highly likely that it did not have enough strength to swim in deep water for a long time and is no longer alive," said the experts, who had wanted to investigate what the humpback whale was really suffering from.
Equestrian sports entrepreneur Karin Walter-Mommert, who financed the private rescue operation together with MediaMarkt founder Walter Gunz, spoke of costs totalling at least €1.5 million. However, this sum does not include the cost of the ships and crew that brought Timmy to the North Sea.
However, it is apparently not clear how the end of the transport really went and how the whale, which weighed around 12 tonnes and apparently hit the walls of the ship several times in rough seas, ended up in the open sea. Was the animal pulled off the ship with ropes?
RelatedWas Timmy simply disposed of?
The captain of the tugboat 'Robin Hood', which was towing the barge, explained in the German regional newspaper Ostsee-Zeitung that he was only following instructions.
"I wish I hadn't helped. We thought that the whale rescue would have a positive effect on the reputation of our shipping company. Exactly the opposite happened. At first we were celebrated as heroes, but in the past few days we have been labelled as murderers and animal abusers."
RelatedHow to track whales on the internet
Many whale fans were hoping to be able to follow Timmy's route using the tracking device after the live stream of the rescue, on which the release was not recorded. However, experts doubt the rescue initiative's claim that the transmitter only provides vital data and not the animal's position.
"Real vital parameters would require special sensor technology," explains Danish marine biologist Peter Madsen from Aarhus University, according to BILD. "There is no commercially available GPS transmitter that can provide the whale's vital signs - anyone who claims that is not telling the truth."
The path of various whales can be tracked on the Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust website. Several humpback whales were observed off Iceland. However, Timmy cannot have travelled that far north since the weekend.
RelatedScientists were not listened to
When the marine mammal became stranded in the Bay of Wismar, it had pieces of a fishing net in its mouth. Marine biologists consider the statement from the private rescue team that the whale "spat out" the plastic to be unlikely.
However, the opinion of the scientists apparently no longer played a role for Till Backhaus, the Environment Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and the handling of the whale in the end. Greenpeace and other marine conservation organisations had also spoken out against the transporting of the badly injured humpback whale.
RelatedProtecting the oceans
Many animal and marine conservation organisations point out that most creatures in the North and Baltic Seas are under threat.
Fishing in particular is causing problems in many of the world's oceans. "45 per cent of the German North Sea and Baltic Sea are designated as marine protected areas and yet these seas are in a worryingly poor state. There is not a lack of instruments and protective measures, but rather a lack of ambition and enforcement of the protection goals. Politicians must now roll up their sleeves to make the North Sea and Baltic Sea a healthy and safe habitat," says Heike Vesper, Director of Transformation Policy & Economics at WWF Germany.
According to experts, the fight against climate change should be taken seriously. "The massive warming of water has serious consequences. It triggers entire species shifts: Fish and marine mammals are migrating polewards. Many corals cannot cope with the heat and are dying," explains Greenpeace. In addition, the exploitation of the oceans' fossil fuel reserves is threatening flora and fauna.
Will the public's interest in the fate of Timmy the whale now lead to people campaigning for the protection of the oceans and the animals that live in them? That remains to be seen.
Go to accessibility shortcuts Share CommentsRead more
Whale stranded on German coast swims off and gets stuck again
Схожі новини
JPMorgan offered $1M, but Chirayu Rana wanted $20M in sexual harassment lawsuit
Quote of the day by Pythagoras: “The oldest, shortest words— ‘yes’ and ‘no’— are those which require the most thought.”
Mexico City is slowly sinking: NASA radar reveals hidden land collapse driven by groundwater loss and a deepening water crisis
