Rescuers in Germany prepare to save sick humpback whale named Timmy

Rescuers in Germany abandoned an elaborate operation on Thursday to save a sick humpback whale that has been repeatedly stranded off the Baltic Sea coast and has stirred up attention across the country for weeks.

The whale, which has been nicknamed Timmy by local media, is lying in shallow waters near the eastern German town of Wismar and has barely moved for days. Many fear it may soon die.

Experts came up with a sophisticated plan to use air cushions to lift the animal onto a tarp, which will be secured to two pontoons and attached to a tugboat.

That plan was due to be enacted on Thursday but has now been delayed until Friday.

“Unfortunately, we lost time this morning,” a spokesperson for the rescue operation told the Bild newspaper without providing further details.

The equipment will instead be set up on Thursday, but the actual salvage operation will not begin until Friday.

It comes after German officials on Wednesday approved a last-ditch effort to rescue Timmy.

The rescue attempt, proposed by two entrepreneurs, involves lifting the whale using inflatable cushions and transporting it with pontoons, said Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

“We have decided that a rescue of the whale, while it is still alive, can go ahead. We are thus opening up the possibility, for the first time, of returning the animal to its natural habitat,” Backhaus said.

Local authorities had two weeks ago declared it was no longer possible to save the whale after it became stranded near the island of Poel, close to Wismar.

The 13.5-metre animal had by then been floundering off Germany’s Baltic Sea coast for more than a week, having first been spotted stuck on a sandbank on 23 March near the city of Lübeck.

The whale became stuck and then freed itself again several times, with experts initially hoping it would be able to find its way back to the Atlantic Ocean.

But on 1 April, regional officials said they were convinced that the badly injured and distressed animal was going to die and could no longer be saved.

Coverage of the whale’s struggle for survival and efforts to rescue it have gripped the German public, with some of the press calling him “Timmy.”

Regular demonstrations have been held in support of the stricken creature, with protesters calling for rescue efforts to resume and some online posts targeting officials with death threats.

Previous rescue proposals, including the use of a catamaran, were ruled out because it was concluded the whale would probably not survive them.

One of the entrepreneurs behind the new plan is Walter Gunz, founder of the MediaMarkt electronics retail chain.

Backhaus said there was now a “chance” for the whale but it remained “in a difficult condition” and “seriously ill.”

“The prognosis is and remains critical, that is perfectly clear. But there is now a plan,” he said.

Additional sources • AP, AFP