A group of wealthy Germans have pooled funds in a last-ditch effort to save a stranded humpback whale off the country’s northern coast.
The 12-tonne mammal, which has been nicknamed “Timmy” by several local media outlets, was first spotted in the Baltic Sea near Timmendorfer Strand, far from its natural habitat, in early March and has been stuck in shallow waters ever since.
Since his first sighting, Timmy has been trapped several times in various locations and freed with human assistance, but has become stranded again and is now fighting for his life, rescuers say.
“It is weakened, and its chances of survival are slim,” Sea Shepherd Germany, a marine conservation company, said.
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There were plans to try to gently nudge the whale off the seafloor using a tarp and a tugboat, according to BBC reports, but experts have warned this approach could injure the already weakened creature.
A secondary mission, which will use air cushions to float the whale back to the surface so it can be pulled into deeper waters and back towards the Atlantic, is being funded by two multimillionaires who stepped forward to back the 11th-hour rescue mission, The Guardian reported.
One of the donors is Walter Gunz, the founder of an electronics retailer chain, who told the German news agency dpa that if rescuers do not act now, the whale would die. “At least if you try something, you have a chance of saving it,” he said.
German outlets have been streaming live footage of Timmy’s ongoing rescue efforts, including what has been dubbed “Operation Cushion,” which began when a group of rescuers paddled out to the whale to try and remove the silt trapping his flippers. The plan is to then slide inflatable pads under Timmy to lift him onto a tarp attached to a tugboat.
State officials have approved the private initiative to transport the whale back to the North Sea and, possibly, farther to the Atlantic. If everything goes according to plan, the tugboat carrying Timmy will have left the Baltic Sea by Friday.
“He’s not active, and he’s certainly not agile, but he shows that there’s still life in him,” Till Backhaus, the environment minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania, where Wismar is located, said Wednesday as he announced the new rescue plan. “He’s definitely suffered serious damage, that’s for sure.”
The whale reportedly swam into the Baltic Sea last month in search of food and has several wounds on its back, the British news outlet reported.
Online newspapers have pushed alerts with the smallest developments about Timmy’s health, including updates on its bad skin condition, which is related to the Baltic Sea’s low salt content.
The international environmental group Greenpeace criticized the rescue efforts, saying in a statement, “We are now focusing our efforts on promoting the protection of the oceans, including as a habitat for whales,” before adding that the animal’s chances of survival were extremely low and that the current mission posed a high risk of injury to the mammal.
A 67-year-old woman jumped off a boat over the weekend to get close to the whale before she was stopped, the Associated Press reported.
— With files from the Associated Press
I hope that the whale makes it. To all the comments that are clearly not in favour of this – you have no idea that these wealthy people do not already help starving children. We cannot afford to lose any more whales or large mammals from the ocean. Their waste products feeds the microbiology in the ocean. We cannot afford to lose any krill or any ocean life anymore. We are destroying the oceans and if we do, everyone and everything will starve in the end
Please save this whale, thank you for trying!!!
project “Make me feel better about being Rich while children starve” underway!
Good thing it didn’t get beached here.The government would have suggested MAID as a solution.
What about starving,Homeless people and children??..?
What about people who are starving
What was trump doing Germany?
Better they would pay more taxes.
Chop it up and feed starving children
Is this the same whale they claimed died already?
Whales Beach themselves when they want to die. Let them alone and let them die in peace.
So they save a whale but they don’t help people dying in other countries
whales naturally come ashore when they are dying. Its nothing new, this one will just drift to another beach,
don’t your multi-millionaires have any marine geologist friends?
This is just increasing the whale’s suffering who wants to die in peace.
Thank you for trying to rescue him!
If wealthy Germans can fund trying to save one humpback whale where are all the wealthy Australians when we have 80 killer whale strandings. Do something don’t just let them die for gods sake.
Shame on Greenpeace your ethos has gone down hill since you kicked out your wonderful founder Paul Watson. Humans should and do save any animal that needs our help. We can not stand back and watch them suffer. Getting involved is the right thing to do.
Mother Nature has her own plans.
The poor things beach themselves when they’re ready to die. Continuing to push them back in the water is just forcing them to die slower by drowning.
Meanwhile, in America, we’d have the billionaires trying to figure out how to trap more whales and profit off of it.
Good job German millionaires. Respect.