Timmy the humpback whale is released into the North Sea
Updated
Updated · The Atlantic · May 5
Timmy the humpback whale is released into the North Sea
15 articles · Updated · The Atlantic · May 5
The whale was freed off Denmark near Skagen on May 2 after a three-week rescue that began when it was first spotted stranded near Luebeck on March 23.
Rescuers dug channels, used excavators, cranes and pontoons, then pulled Timmy into a flooded barge on April 28 and towed it through the Baltic and Kiel Canal.
German media nicknamed the whale Timmy, and it was fitted with a GPS transmitter, but experts warned its health had deteriorated after repeated beachings and prolonged stranding.
What does Timmy's stranding reveal about the silent, ongoing collapse of the Baltic Sea's ecosystem?
After a massive rescue, will the GPS tracker show the weakened whale's survival or its final tragic journey?
Was the costly effort to save one whale a triumph of compassion or a misuse of conservation resources?