{"id":615606,"date":"2026-04-18T18:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615606\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:48:14","slug":"rescue-for-whale-stranded-off-german-coast-in-decisive-phase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/615606\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescue for whale stranded off German coast in \u2018decisive phase\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">BERLIN &#8211; A private rescue attempt for a whale stranded off Germany\u2019s Baltic coast has entered a \u201cdecisive phase\u201d, officials said on April 17, with the sea mammal showing more activity than in recent days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The 13.5m humpback whale\u2019s ordeal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/world\/europe\/humpback-whale-timmy-struggles-to-escape-shallow-waters-off-germany?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">first began in late March when it was spotted stuck on a sandbank<\/a> near the city of Luebeck. It first freed itself only to become stuck again farther east along the German coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Earlier in April, officials said they expected the animal to die, saying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/world\/europe\/germany-halts-rescue-efforts-for-stranded-whale?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\">it had been too weakened by the odyssey to survive<\/a> and make its way back to its natural habitat in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">However, on April 15, a last-ditch rescue effort proposed by two entrepreneurs was approved, set to involve lifting the whale using inflatable cushions and transporting it with pontoons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On April 17, Mr Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, said that the rescue had entered a \u201cdecisive phase\u201d and that the whale would have a \u201cchance\u201d at survival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">A rescue team was seen that day approaching the whale near the island of Poel to take preparatory steps, with the animal showing an increased level of movement, including by flapping its tail out of the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Dr Backhaus said he was \u201cpleased\u201d that the whale was \u201cin a better condition than some had suspected\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The rescue team say they are proceeding cautiously so as not to further distress the whale and that they cannot say exactly when it might be lifted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Coverage of the whale\u2019s struggle for survival and efforts to rescue it have gripped the German public, with some of the press calling him \u201cTimmy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Regular demonstrations have been held in support of the stricken creature, with protesters calling for rescue efforts to resume and some online posts targeting officials with death threats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Previous rescue proposals, including the use of a catamaran, were ruled out because it was concluded the whale would probably not survive them. AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN &#8211; A private rescue attempt for a whale stranded off Germany\u2019s Baltic coast has entered a \u201cdecisive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,128,338],"class_list":["post-615606","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\/615606","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=615606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}