A barge carrying Timmy the humpback whale journeys to the North Sea
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- A humpback whale nicknamed Timmy, stranded near Germany's Baltic Sea coast since March, has been loaded onto a barge and begun its journey toward the North Sea, reaching Danish waters on Wednesday.
- The whale's health had deteriorated due to repeated strandings in shallow waters, and previous rescue attempts to guide it to deeper seas were unsuccessful but widely followed online.
- Rescuers used straps and a dredged channel to move the whale onto a flooded barge, which is now traveling around Denmark’s northern tip via the Skagerrak strait toward the Atlantic Ocean.
- The rescue operation, described as unprecedented in Germany, was approved despite scientific concerns that the transport could cause severe stress and potentially hasten the whale's death.
- The debate continues between those advocating for the whale's natural death and activists supporting efforts to save and return it to its natural habitat, with veterinarians involved in the rescue believing the whale is fit for transport.
