![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-whale-humpback-germany_7204286.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA humpback whale that was stranded in shallow water off the north German coast has been set free by rescuers.<\/p>\n
The whale had been stranded for several days on the Timmendorfer Strand, a popular resort town on the Baltic Sea coastline, with several rescue attempts made amid fears the marine mammal was going to die.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n The freed humpback whale swims in the Baltic Sea. Pic: dpa\/AP<\/p>\n
The 39 to 49ft-long whale was spotted on Monday, but the first attempt to free it was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
Experts gathered on Tuesday morning on the beach to find a way to get the whale off the ground, German news agency dpa reported.<\/p>\n
Sven Biertumpfel, of the Sea Shepherd marine conservation group, told Sky News the Baltic Sea is not a humpback’s natural habitat, adding “maybe he followed some fish or some food”.<\/p>\n
The whale, which weighs several tonnes, got entangled in nets, the conservationist said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-whale-germany_7203547.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Share<\/p>\n
\n Humpback whale stuck in the Baltic Sea off Germany.\n <\/p>\n
Rescuers initially managed to turn the whale so its head was pointing towards deeper water. But the animal then turned back to its previous position.<\/p>\n
Boats from the coastguard and the fire department created large waves in the hope of freeing the animal – but it remained stuck, German public broadcaster NDR reported.<\/p>\n
The whale could not actively be pulled back into deeper water because it could have been seriously injured in the process, experts said.<\/p>\n
![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-whale-germany_7203750.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Pic: dpa\/AP<\/p>\n
Attempts on Thursday to dig a channel with heavy machinery were finally successful, and the whale was able to swim out into the sea overnight.<\/p>\n
It was slow work, with rescuers trying to get the animal used to the noise of the machinery so as not to upset it.<\/p>\n
![\"Pic:](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/skynews-humpback-whale-dredger_7203748.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Image:
\n Pic: dpa\/AP<\/p>\n
By Thursday evening, the whale, which had been getting closer to its normal state, started to make its way slowly through the channel.<\/p>\n
The rescue team tried to encourage it to keep going with lots of noise, and the animal reportedly responded with a humming sound.<\/p>\n
Read more from Sky News: Early on Friday morning, the whale was on its way out of Lubeck Bay, one researcher said.<\/p>\n Stephanie Gross, of the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, said the mammal, which was nearly 1,000 feet off the coast, was being accompanied by a coastguard ship and several other vessels.<\/p>\n The whale must now make its way on a complex route past the Danish islands, out into the North Sea, before finally passing into the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A humpback whale that was stranded in shallow water off the north German coast has been set free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-567706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Gang-rape victim, 25, dies by euthanasia<\/a>
Putin ‘asks oligarchs to donate to budget’<\/a><\/p>\n