{"id":568344,"date":"2026-03-27T18:41:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/568344\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T18:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:41:08","slug":"whale-stranded-off-germany-swims-to-freedom-after-days-of-efforts-to-save-it-germany","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/568344\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale stranded off Germany swims to freedom after days of efforts to save it | Germany"},"content":{"rendered":"

A humpback whale<\/a> stranded on Germany\u2019s Baltic Sea coast since early this week has freed itself and swum into deeper waters, rescuers said on Friday.<\/p>\n

A flotilla of vessels were following the weakened animal at a distance, hoping to help guide it into the North Sea and toward the Atlantic Ocean, its natural habitat.<\/p>\n

The roughly 10-metre-long (33ft) sea mammal was first spotted on Monday stuck in shallow water off Niendorf near the northern city of L\u00fcbeck.<\/p>\n

Then commenced days of intensive efforts<\/a> to free the whale using boats to make waves and excavators to dig up sand, as fears grew for its life.<\/p>\n

Rescue teams attempt to dig the sandbank to clear a path for the whale. Photograph: Selim Sudheimer\/EPA<\/p>\n

Rescue teams on Thursday began using earth-moving equipment on a pontoon to dredge a channel through the sand to give the animal a route to escape.<\/p>\n

Then, overnight to Friday, the whale \u201cgathered its forces\u201d and \u201cfreed itself using its own strength\u201d, the marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhale rescue successful,\u201d he wrote on his Instagram profile.<\/p>\n

However, he cautioned against premature celebration and said the animal was \u201cvery ill\u201d and had a long way to go before reaching \u201cits real home, the Atlantic\u201d.<\/p>\n

The whale had been entangled in a fishing net, most of which rescuers managed to remove.<\/p>\n

Lehmann said the whale was \u201czigzagging\u201d in the water and could become stranded again.<\/p>\n

Experts from the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd also warned that the whale had a skin disease.<\/p>\n

Robert Marc Lehmann (right) and rescuers attempting to help the whale to safety. Photograph: Jonas Walzberg\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The animal was being escorted by, among others, two vessels from the Schleswig-Holstein state water police, a spokesperson from its headquarters in Kiel told AFP.<\/p>\n

Experts hope it will swim back to the North Sea through the straits between Germany<\/a>, Denmark and Sweden and on to the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we just have to hope that it finds its way out,\u201d the state premier, Daniel G\u00fcnther, said on local radio, thanking the rescue volunteers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they were all happy that all their digging had finally paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A humpback whale stranded on Germany\u2019s Baltic Sea coast since early this week has freed itself and swum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-568344","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\/568344","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=568344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}