For days, it remained unclear whether the whale found dead off the Danish coast was Timmy. Authorities have now confirmed that the well-known humpback whale did not survive his journey through the Baltic Sea.

After several days of uncertainty, authorities have confirmed that the dead whale stranded off a Danish island is the humpback whale known as “Timmy”.

The confirmation came from Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency, according to the Ritzau news agency, with broadcaster TV 2 among the first to report it.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Environment Minister Till Backhaus has since also confirmed the whale’s death.

Denmark’s nature protection agency, Miljøstyrelsen, said a GPS transmitter was found on the carcass, confirming it was the same humpback whale previously sighted in the Baltic Sea and later stranded off the German coast.

“We can now confirm that the humpback whale stranded off Anholt is the same whale that had previously stranded in Germany,” agency head Jane Hansen said in a written statement.

Authorities have so far been unable to recover the GPS device because of poor weather conditions.

The whale had been released just two weeks ago following a dramatic and highly debated rescue operation after repeatedly becoming stranded along Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, authorities said on Saturday.

Timmy was first spotted off the German coast on March 3. It remains unclear why the humpback whale entered the Baltic Sea, a region far outside its natural habitat and poorly suited to the species. Some marine experts believe the animal may have become disoriented while following shoals of herring or during migration.

  • qevlarr@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Meanwhile, millions of animals, thousands of times more weight, have been slaughtered than this one animal with a name.

    Hypocritical bullshit. None of those in charge want to do anything substantial for animals

    • jwt@programming.dev
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      8 hours ago

      If I were Denmark I’d tow it back to the original beach. Might cost a little more, but you can’t let assholes get away with shitty behaviour.

      • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Depending on the rate of decay there could still be a lot of oil you can extract from it. Also the bones could go to a museum. It would only cause more turmoil in Germany.

  • trollercoaster@sh.itjust.works
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    7 hours ago

    No surprise. Anyone with any clue of whales predicted this. Should have done the decent thing and ended the poor animal’s suffering. But tormenting it for imaginary internet points was more important.

  • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Timmy is in a better place now.

    Can‘t wait for Merz‘ approval rates to drop even lower from this.

    • Gollum@feddit.org
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      2 hours ago

      Nur die Geldgeier nennen ihn Timmy, Menschen mit Herz nennen ihn Hope. 🤡