A male giant wrasse nicknamed Timmy, stranded off the German coast for weeks, has swam into the North Sea. This was reported on Saturday by a private rescue team and news website News5, which broadcast live drone footage of the whale swimming in the water – however, it was not possible to confirm whether it was a released animal, DPA reported.
- Timmy the whale was stranded off the German coast.
- The rescue team transported her towards the North Sea.
- It is not confirmed whether the GPS transmitter works on it.
- Experts warn that the whale is significantly weakened.
- Real rescue depends on returning to the Atlantic.
A special boat with a whale that has been stranded off the German Baltic Sea coast several times in recent weeks almost reached the North Sea on Friday after several days of sailing, but about 20 kilometers from the northernmost point of Denmark, it turned back due to strong waves.
In the calmer waters of the Baltic Sea, the fencing on the back of the vessel was removed on Friday afternoon to allow Timmy to set sail. However, the whale did not do this for many hours. Before release, a GPS transmitter was to be attached to the animal, which would allow tracking of its movements. However, it is not clear whether this was done and whether the device is transmitting data, DPA added.
The data will not be accessible to the public
Even if the transmitter is in operation, the data on Timmy’s movement will not be publicly available – only members of the initiative that advocated for his rescue and the Ministry of the Environment of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern have access to it.
The approximately four- to six-year-old male was first spotted in the Baltic Sea at the beginning of March. During approximately 60 days, it spent most of the time in shallow waters. It was loaded into the aforementioned boat near the island of Poel and then transported towards the North Sea.
A private initiative financed by two German businessmen also took part in the operation, which was supposed to help Timmy reach the deep sea and the open sea. The progress of the rescue work was accompanied by disputes between the organizers and experts who were not invited to the operation.
However, the crisis is not over
Experts warn that the release of Timmy does not end the crisis. According to marine biologist Fabian Ritter, it is questionable whether the whale is still able to swim normally and hunt for food – the remains of fishing nets were found in its mouth. According to experts, Timmy is very weakened. The organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation said that it will be possible to talk about a real rescue only when the animal returns to the North Atlantic, survives long-term, returns to its original state of health and begins to migrate and feed naturally again.
According to experts from the International Whaling Commission (IWC), there is a risk that the weakened animal may begin to approach the coast again. Experience from various other parts of the world shows that injured whales often seek out shallow waters with a soft bottom.
“It is entirely possible that the whale swam into shallow water to rest or even die,” the whale and dolphin conservation organization said. It is typical for many wild animals to withdraw and seek a quiet place after being injured. Timmy the whale was first spotted at the beginning of March in the port of Wismar. She later moved in the area of Timmendorfer Strand and Wismar Bay, where she repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters. Despite several attempts to guide her back to deeper waters, she repeatedly returned to shallow areas.
