Timmy, a 10-metre-long humpback whale calf, was found dead near the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat strait off Denmark. Authorities confirmed the death about two weeks after the whale was released into the North Sea following a rescue attempt from German waters [1, 2].
The whale had been first spotted nearly two months ago, stranded on a sandbank off the German coast near Timmendorfer beach on March 30, 2026 [1]. The rescue operation involved transporting Timmy by barge and tugboat from near Lübeck, Germany, to deeper waters off Denmark. The effort reportedly cost about €1.5 million [1].
Experts had warned against the rescue, describing Timmy as severely compromised and unlikely to survive after release. Before the rescue, the whale was weak, lethargic, covered in lesions, and believed to have part of its mouth caught in fishing gear [1].
The International Whaling Commission and experts from the Oceanographic Museum in Stralsund criticized the rescue as animal cruelty. Burkard Baschek, director of the museum, said "Trying to save Timmy amounted to 'pure animal cruelty'" [1].
On May 15, Timmy was found dead near Anholt, and the following day the Danish Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the whale’s identity via a tracking device. Jane Hansen from the agency said, "It can now be confirmed that the stranded humpback whale near Anholt is the same whale that was previously stranded in Germany and was the subject of rescue attempts" [1].
