The rescue attempt for a stranded humpback whale off Germany’s Baltic coast has been abandoned after rising water levels made it impossible to deploy flotation devices, according to the project’s main funder.
Walter Gunz says the operation is back to square one
Walter Gunz, co-founder of MediaMarkt and financier of the rescue effort, told the German Press Agency that his team’s hands are tied due to a sudden 70-centimeter increase in water depth near the island of Poel.
The higher water level prevents the secure attachment of pontoons needed to guide the whale back to deeper water, Gunz said, adding that the conditions yesterday would have allowed the operation to proceed.
He described the current situation as “square one,” noting that the whale now appears fully aware of its freedom and may no longer be responsive to guidance.
Bureaucratic delays worsened the timing
Gunz blamed bureaucratic hurdles for costing the team one-and-a-half to two days, time that could have been used during a more favorable tidal window.
For more on this story, see Private rescue team stalled in effort to free humpback whale Timmy off Poel Island in Baltic Sea.
The humpback, nicknamed “Timmy” by local media, had been sighted repeatedly along the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern coast since early March, with recent strandings near Timmendorfer Strand and Poel.
Rescue team calls for a miracle to save the whale
With the original plan no longer viable, Gunz said the team now relies on an unpredictable turn of events to prevent the whale from re-stranding or suffering further harm.
This follows our earlier report, Rescue Efforts Begin for Stranded Humpback Whale Near Poel Island Using Pontoons and Pumps.
Why was the rescue attempt called off?
Rising water levels prevented the team from attaching pontoons to guide the whale, making the rescue operation technically impossible under current conditions.
<!– wp:heading />What caused the delay in the rescue effort?
/wp:heading –> <!– wp:paragraph />Bureaucratic setbacks delayed the team by one-and-a-half to two days, pushing the operation into a less favorable tidal window.
/wp:paragraph –> <!– wp:heading />Is there still a chance to save the whale?
/wp:heading –> <!– wp:paragraph />The rescue team says success now depends on an unpredictable change in circumstances, which Gunz described as needing a miracle.
/wp:paragraph –>
