Germany's most-watched whale saga has a new chapter: Timmy is finally back in the North Sea. The roughly 40-foot humpback, stuck for weeks in the Baltic and written off as doomed in early April, was released Saturday in the North Sea following what the New York Times reports was the fifth attempt to rescue him. The high-stakes effort, bankrolled by two millionaires, involved guiding the 26,000-pound animal into a flooded barge about half a football field long, sealing it with a net, then towing it around Denmark to deeper, more suitable waters. He was released about 45 miles off the coast, reports the AP, and Deutsche Welle reports the hope is that he will now swim to the Atlantic.
Timmy's ordeal—entangled in fishing gear, weakened by a freshwater skin disease, repeatedly re-stranding after earlier efforts—has generated wall-to-wall German media coverage. While some experts backed the ambitious barge plan, others warned the whale's odds remain slim given its condition and the stress of transport. "He is doing well," said Walter Gunz, one of the funders, reporting that Timmy sent up a "great fountain" as it swam off.
NPR reports the International Whaling Commission has been among the critics. The group put out a statement on Saturday that read in part, "Release into this area is the beginning of any recovery process, not its conclusion. A successful rescue will become evident over time if the animal can swim, survive the serious physiological effects of prolonged stranding and transport, return to suitable habitat, resume normal feeding, and regain health."
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