Stranded whale ferried out to sea in daring rescue operation

A whale that got into trouble in shallow waters on the German coast has been rescued by a specialised barge five weeks after it was first trapped. Local authorities launched a major operation to rescue the humpback, lovingly nicknamed "Timmy" after he was stranded and entangled on Timmendorfer Beach in Lübeck Bay in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on March 23. The mammal's sticky situation and the freedom operation that followed captured massive national attention, with early attempts to lure it back into the open initially failing. Entrepeneurs, in a stroke of genius, have now successfully removed the whale out to the North Sea via Denmark by luring the huge mammal onto a specialised barge filled with water. When previous attempts to coax the whale failed, entrepreneurs Karin Walter-Mommert and Walter Gunz funded an operation to place the whale aboard the vessel and take it out to the North Sea. Till Backhaus Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's environment minister, hailed the operation as an early success, saying it was an "example for Germany of what can be done". He said he expected the whale would likely take a couple of days to reach the open sea, telling German reporters: "If everything goes well, it will be in the North Sea in two days." Speaking to the BBC following the operation's success this week, Ms Walter-Mommert said: "I can't even say how happy I am." Fellow entrepreneur Mr Gunz said he had never prayed so much as the barge headed into Danish waters, where it will make the trip around the country's coast of Jutland, through the Skagerrak strait, and finally towards the North Sea. Stunning pictures of the operation show Timmy the whale swimming in shallow water in the back of his trailer as it was towed by another vessel. But experts, who have largely distanced themselves from the popular operation, have said the efforts may well fail, believing the whale "severely compromised". An expert panel set up by the International Whaling Commission, while commending the plan's aims, said the animal was "unlikely to survive even if moved to deeper water". The panel noted that the whale has re-stranded itself over multiple times, and that operations to save it "risk creating false hope and unrealistically raising public expectations". The panel's statement read: "Claims that this whale can now be successfully guided over long distances to safety are not supported by the repeated re-stranding events or by the animal’s deteriorating condition, and risk creating false hope and unrealistically raising public expectations. "Observations of the whale should also be stopped to minimise disturbance and prioritise the animal’s welfare. The Panel also emphasises that public discussion should remain grounded in the animal’s clinical condition, the repeated re-stranding history, and realistic welfare-based assessment." Rescue director Felix Bohnsack, who praised everyone involved in the effort and said they had "tears in our eyes" when the whale swam into its oceangoing enclosure, warned it was not "out of the woods".