The humpback whale,
found
dead near the Danish island of Anholt, is precisely the animal that previously stranded off the coasts of German Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This was confirmed by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency,
Bild writes
.
Павялічыць
Final confirmation came on May 16 from a tracker found on the whale. The tracking device is now in the possession of the Danish government. Earlier it was reported that no tracker had been found on the dead whale.
The whale Timmy attracted attention across Germany for several weeks:
“If it is confirmed that this is the same whale whose fate worried everyone in recent weeks, I will only feel one thing – sadness,” expert Fabian Ritter, chairman of the NGO for marine animal protection M.E.E.R. e.V., previously stated.
According to him, the animal’s death was predictable. In an interview with Bild, the whale researcher explains:
“I have repeatedly said that due to its general condition, the whale was not a candidate for such measures even before transportation. Its general condition apparently led to what was feared.”
Ritter again criticized the rescue operation. He always advocated for leaving the whale on the sandbank and allowing it to “die naturally”: “Even if it was unbearable for many people.”
The expert refrains from assessing whether Timmy was released too early or in an inappropriate location during transportation. However, he noted:
“It was definitely a place with very intensive shipping traffic, and the whale’s path back to its natural habitat was still very, very long.”