{"id":71602,"date":"2026-04-30T02:44:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/71602\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T02:44:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:44:49","slug":"whale-timmy-reaches-denmark-in-rescue-effort-in-pictures-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/71602\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale ‘Timmy’ reaches Denmark in rescue effort \u2014 in pictures"},"content":{"rendered":"

A barge carrying ‘Timmy’, the humpback whale stranded in Germany since early March, is expected to reach the open ocean by Friday.<\/p>\n

The tugboat pulling the water-filled barge entered Danish waters Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

It was located between the Danish islands of Samso and Sjaelland at 2 a.m. German time (0000 GMT) on Thursday, according to the Vessel Finder tracking website.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The tugboat and barge containing the humpback whale has crossed into Danish watersPhilip Dulian\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Environment minister for the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Till Backhaus, said that if everything went well, the whale would be in the North Sea by Friday.<\/p>\n

“The very worst is already behind him now,” Backhaus told Germany’s Bild newspaper on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Backhaus said the animal was “doing well” and had made sounds during the night.<\/p>\n

\"Rescuers<\/p>\n

Rescuers managed to get Timmy onto the barge, has a water-filled hold and is usually used to carry other boatsJens Schwarck\/Rettungsinitiative\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Stranded whale Timmy was coaxed onto barge in complex rescue<\/p>\n

The whale, nicknamed ‘Timmy’ by Germany media, was towed from the shallows of the island of German island of Poel to the barge through a specially dredged channel on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Rescuers then pulled the whale onto the specially converted freight barge using straps.<\/p>\n

\"Rescuers<\/p>\n

Rescuers guided Timmy from shallow waters through a specially dug channelJens B\u00fcttner\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

“I’m truly relieved,” Backhaus on Poel.<\/p>\n

“I was even on the verge of jumping into the water to help him over the last few meters.”<\/p>\n

\"Rescuers<\/p>\n

Rescuers pull Timmy the humpback (not visible) into the barge using strapsSchwarck\/NonstopNews\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

The young humpback was first spotted swimming near Germany’s Baltic Coast on March 3, far from its natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

Timmy’s health deteriorated as the juvenile whale, thought to be between four and six years old, became repeatedly stranded in shallow waters.<\/p>\n

The idea to coax the whale onto a barge and tow it to the North Sea<\/a> was hatched after their initial attempt to save the whale with inflatable cushions and pontoons was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Whale rescue attempt sparks heated debate<\/p>\n

Some scientists warned that this latest attempt may be too much for the animal.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Some scientists have criticized this latest rescue attempt saying it will cause stress to the already sick whaleJens Schwarck\/Rettungsinitiative\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

Thilo Maack, a marine biologist at Greenpeace, told the Associated Press earlier this month that efforts to save Timmy have caused the animal severe stress.<\/p>\n

“I believe the whale will die very soon now,” he said. “And I would also like to raise the question: What is actually so bad about that? Animals live, animals die. This animal is really, really very, very, very sick.”<\/p>\n

\"Whale<\/p>\n

Whale specialists say Timmy the humpback’s chance of survival are smallDaniel M\u00fcller\/Greenpeace Germany\/dpa\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

The International Whaling Commission called the rescue “inadvisable.”<\/p>\n

It said the whale “appeared to be severely compromised” and “unlikely to survive.”<\/p>\n

The rescue initiative is being privately financed by two German multimillionaires.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Zac Crellin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A barge carrying ‘Timmy’, the humpback whale stranded in Germany since early March, is expected to reach the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27,26,38783,38784,38916],"class_list":{"0":"post-71602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denmark","8":"tag-danmark","9":"tag-denmark","10":"tag-humpback-whale","11":"tag-till-backhaus","12":"tag-timmy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116491365058455928","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}