Rescuers trying to save a stranded humpback whale off Germany’s Baltic coast have coaxed the mammal on to a barge in the hope the vessel can take it to safety in deeper waters.
Amid intense media attention, the high-stakes rescue mission, funded by two multi-millionaires, is being watched by hundreds of onlookers, many of whom are camped nearby to monitor the spectacle.
Cheers went up on Tuesday afternoon after the whale, named “Timmy” after the Timmerdorfer Strand where it beached on a sand bank more than a month ago, was hauled down a channel in the sandy seabed and then swam of its own accord into the barge.
“Waleilujah!” exclaimed the tabloid Bild, which has exclusive access to the rescue operation, once the whale had arrived on Timmy’s “travel cot”.
The whale blew a fountain of water as it entered the barge, prompting one onlooker to declare: “He’s expressing his thanks.”
Fred Babbel, a diver involved in the operation, wiped away tears after seeing the whale swim into the barge. “I’m not the type to give up or leave something unfinished,” he told Bild. “Rather, I see it through to the end and look for a solution.”
The next stage will involve a tugboat pulling the barge into the North Sea. There, if the whale is considered robust enough, it will be released and hopefully swim further into the Atlantic Ocean. It is equipped with a tracker to follow its movements.
Till Backhaus, the Social Democratic (SPD) environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern, said he was hopeful of a “happy end” and had been tempted to jump into the water himself to accompany the whale.
“I saw for myself how contented he feels in the barge,” he said, admitting he too had cried as he watched the operation. He hoped the whale would find its family, he added. “And I tell you, when he sees his mother again he’s going to be in real trouble for having taken a wrong turn into the Baltic Sea where he doesn’t belong.”
The whale, which weighs about 12 tonnes and is about 10 metres long, has become a cause celèbre in Germany. It was quickly identified as being sick and fatigued, not helped by the waters of the Baltic, which are low in salt compared with the Atlantic, which he probably came from.
Blister-like blemishes on its skin were treated with tonnes of zinc ointment, applied with cloths. The local fire brigade used hoses to try to keep it sufficiently hydrated around the clock.
People arrived from around Germany, some even swimming in the icy waters, to get close to the creature. And experts, including a supposed “whale whisperer” and a vet, had been flown in from as far afield as Peru and Hawaii.
The rescue operation has been beset with controversy, with experts from the local oceanographic museum in Stralsund and Backhaus accused of not doing enough to save the animal; accusations they have denied. The predictions of the whale’s demise ignited outrage, leading to authorities allowing the entrepreneurs to carry out their rescue plan.
Experts involved in the original attempts to help the whale have continued to say it is sick and unlikely to survive.
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