April 2, 2026

7 min read

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Why experts called off a major humpback whale rescue effort

It was a tough decision to leave Timmy the humpback whale to die on a small island in the Baltic Sea

By Anna Lorenzen

Marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann tries to help the stranded whale on a sandbank off Niendorf in the Baltic Sea on March 26, 2026.

IMAGO/Susanne Hübner, Susanne Huebner via Alamy

A humpback whale nicknamed Timmy that has been stranded in the Baltic Sea off Germany will be left to die; all rescue efforts have been called off, according to Till Backhaus, environment minister of the German state where the whale is now stranded.

The 12- to 15-meter-long whale became stuck on sandbanks a few times at the end of March—in one incident, it was freed with the help of an excavator that dug an escape channel, and in another, it freed itself. Currently, Timmy is beached on a small island near the port of Wismar, Germany, in the Baltic. Reports suggest the animal, which is thought to be male but whose sex has not been fully confirmed, is exhausted, breathing irregularly and hardly moving.

Marine biologist and whale conservationist Fabian Ritter has been following the situation in the media and has been in regular contact with those on the ground. Scientific American’s German-language sister publication Spektrum der Wissenschaft spoke with Ritter about the difficult decision to halt rescue efforts and needed changes in policy and individual actions around such incidents.

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[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

Experts and others have voiced varying opinions about the state of the whale’s health. Why has that been so difficult to assess?

We are primarily dependent on external signs from the animal’s behavior. Is it breathing regularly, and how forcefully [is it doing so]? What does [its] skin look like? What is its general condition? These are things we can only roughly assess. What we do know, however, is that the humpback whale has endured weeks of suffering because it was entangled in a fishing net, which has certainly weakened it considerably. And there are still pieces of the net in its mouth, which is why it might not be able to eat, even if it wanted to. It is growing weaker and is now likely nearing the end of its life.

A stranded humpback whale lies off the small island of Poel, in the Baltic Sea off Germany on April 1, 2026. Rescue efforts have been halted, as the animal isn't expected to survive.

Philip Dulian/dpa/Alamy Live News

Throughout this saga, have you seen any hopeful signs that the whale might pull through?

Five or six days ago, I gave the whale no chance at all—and was then surprised when it freed itself again. But my hopes remained low. In the past few days, it has only circled a few times and then settled down again. This suggests that it is pretty much at its physical and mental end.

If the whale had made it to the open sea, would it be safe?

Had [the whale] gotten moving again and swum in the right direction, [it] would have still had hundreds of kilometers to go to reach the Atlantic. It was certainly within [the whale’s] grasp that [the animal] would have found [its] way. But the net in [its] mouth is likely causing [it] pain and preventing [it] from eating much, if anything. Ultimately, that would be a death sentence, no matter how far [it] manages to swim.

What exactly is the next step? Will this marine mammal just die naturally? There has also been talk of euthanasia.

Euthanasia has been ruled out by all involved. Such an undertaking is logistically too difficult, especially because the animal is currently lying on muddy ground. And then there’s the question of how exactly it would be done. There are three possibilities: One could, for example, inject a high dose of toxin. But no one knows how much a humpback whale would need. The second option is the use of high-caliber firearms. The problem with this is that the shot would have to be extremely precise; otherwise the animal would suffer even more. The third option would be an explosive device. While this would be the most effective, what if cameras were rolling? The world would be watching. No, that wouldn’t be a good solution.

What happens after the death of the marine mammal?

The carcass [will be] hauled onshore with heavy equipment, and veterinarians [will] thoroughly examine it: blood tests, internal injuries, pollutant levels, parasites. Naturally, everyone is interested in determining the actual damage the net caused in its mouth or digestive tract. Afterward, the whale must be butchered and disposed of.

How did the whale get into this predicamen