Australia’s expertise in whale rescue could greatly assist a grim situation unfolding 16,500km away in Germany, a leading whale vet believes.
Since a juvenile named “Timmy” became stranded five weeks ago on a sandbar in the Baltic Sea, inexperienced local authorities have felt out of their depth as humpbacks aren’t naturally found in the area.
Millions of Europeans have watched through livestreams as crews have attempted and ultimately failed to dig Timmy free so he can return to his migratory path, and emotions are running high.
Experts have been flown in from overseas to assist, including US-based Dr Jenna Wallace, a marine mammal specialist who has worked at Miami Seaquarium, Dolphinaris Arizona, and Honolulu Zoo.
Before arriving, she’d been told it would be “impossible” to save the whale, but having examined him this week, she isn’t convinced they’re right.
While she won’t give a percentage on the likelihood of another rescue mission succeeding, she believes it’s wrong to simply abandon Timmy, as some government officials have suggested.
“Nobody would let their dog, their cat, their horse, their mother-in-law, sit like that and die slowly,” she told Yahoo News.
‘Australia needs to speak with Germany’
The whale has enough blubber to survive for months, but without intervention, he’ll likely die within weeks from sunburn, low salinity in the Baltic Sea, and the pressure of gravity on his organs from not being fully submerged in water.
To give Timmy the best chance, Dr Wallace is hoping to connect with more experts from Australia, where strandings are more common.
Dr Jenna Wallace flew to Germany to assess the health of the whale, and she believes Australia’s skills in humpback rescue could help. Source: Supplied
She was impressed by a rescue mission a week ago at Forster in NSW, when a multi-agency group, including members of Sea World and ORRCA, successfully dragged a juvenile whale off a sandbar and out to the open ocean.
Now she’s pleading with Australian groups with expertise in whale rescue to help.
“We need Australia yesterday,” she said.
Sea World open to providing advice to German authorities
Sea World stressed that every whale rescue is different, but indicated it was open to helping through official channels if it was fully briefed.
Australian rescuers helped free a whale that became trapped in Wallis Lake, NSW. Source: Shane Chalker Photography
Germans living around the Baltic Sea have little experience working to free humpback whales and have engaged with experts from overseas. Source: Julius Schrank/Greenpeace
(© J)
“While we haven’t been engaged by anyone in the German government to assist with the unfortunate situation, we would be open to providing input if they believed it would be beneficial to their efforts,” a spokesperson told Yahoo News.
ORRCA said it could not comment directly on the matter as it was not on the ground, but it was open to providing technical advice if approached by an official response agency.
Aussie whale expert quietly helping whale response
German officials are largely standing back and allowing independent experts to work on the rescue response.
There has already been some engagement with Australia.
Yahoo News understands that some government research on whale strandings, created by the Tasmanian and Commonwealth governments, has been sent to Germany.
German-Australian Griffith University whale researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke has also unofficially advised the local Greenpeace chapter in the early stages of the rescue, and later, an independent team of rescuers and vets who have been externally funded by millionaires.
He’s been working to steer the decision-making process, as outside voices suggest “questionable” tactics which he fears could be detrimental to Timmy’s welfare.
While he believes it’s worth giving the rescue another try, if this effort were to fail, he believes the focus should shift.
“If it’s freed and then it strands again in the same area, we need to assist it in finding peace and let it just rest,” he told Yahoo News.
Timmy the whale’s health has continued to decline as he has been stranded for weeks. Source: Florian Manz/Greenpeace
(© Florian Manz / Greenpeace)
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