Timmy the humpback whale found dead off Danish coast
Source: npr
May 16, 2026 11:12 AM ET
By The Associated Press
BERLIN (AP) A humpback whale found dead this week off a Danish island has been identified as the animal released two weeks ago in a spectacular and controversial rescue effort after repeatedly becoming stranded off Germany's Baltic Sea coast, Danish authorities said Saturday.
The dead whale washed up on Thursday just off the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat, the broad strait between Denmark and Sweden that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. The site is south of the location where the whale that gained the nicknames "Timmy" and "Hope" was released on May 2 after being transported toward the North Sea in a special barge.
An aerial photo taken on May 2, 2026 shows Timmy, the rescued humpback whale, offshore near Skagen after being released from a barge. The whale was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on March 23 near the city of Luebeck before freeing itself and then becoming stuck again several times.
Animals
Timmy the stranded whale rescued after weekslong effort
"It can now be confirmed that the stranded humpback whale near Anholt is the same whale that was previously stranded in Germany and was the subject of rescue attempts," Jane Hansen, head of division at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, said in an emailed statement.
She added that conditions on Saturday made it possible for a Danish Nature Agency employee to locate and retrieve a tracking device that was still fastened to the whale's back, and "the position and appearance of the device confirm that this is the same whale that had previously been observed and handled in German waters."
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Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/05/16/g-s1-122490/timmy-humpback-whale-dead-stranded-rescue-denmark?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
I had posted on DU when Timmy took off in the barge.
So sad.
The dead whale washed up on Thursday just off the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat, the broad strait between Denmark and Sweden that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.
— (@oceancalm.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T21:09:28.421Z
www.npr.org/2026/05/16/g...
On April 29, 2026, the humpback whale recovered from a shallow bay off Wismar was being transported towards the North Sea in a flooded cargo ship just before the Danish border in Fehmarn, Germany.
Stargazer99
(3,553 posts)Do it enough times and man will be next if he doesn't already destroy the planet with the nuclear bomb
GenThePerservering
(3,696 posts)but once whales strand, it's very tough to save them.
sinkingfeeling
(58,026 posts)Bayard
(30,252 posts)NickB79
(20,400 posts)Either they strand due to illness or injury, or they accidentally strand and quickly become injured from their own weight before they can be returned to the water.
Honestly, humane euthanasia is probably the best option most of the time.