FRANKFURT: A humpback whale struggling to survive beached near the German coast was released into the North Sea off Denmark on Saturday after being taken to a barge in a final rescue operation.The whale, known as “Timmy” in Germany – where his ordeal captured people’s hearts and caused a media stir – climbed out of the barge, blew air out of his hole and swam away, said Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the wealthy entrepreneurs funding the rescue. It is now swimming on its own and is on the right track, at least for the time being, he said.“The whale suffered some minor injuries, but they were superficial,” Walter-Mommert said. “It must now swim from the Norwegian coast to the Arctic,” said the entrepreneur who made her fortune in horse racing.The whale was first spotted stranding on a sandbar near the city of Lübeck on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 23, before freeing itself and becoming stranded again several times. Various attempts to save it failed, and the authorities announced they were giving up – prompting Walter-Mommert and another wealthy entrepreneur to intervene. They came up with what many saw as a far-fetched plan: take the whale to the water-filled hold of a special barge and transport it back to its natural habitat.Some experts criticized the privately funded rescue plan, saying it would cause further suffering to the animal. But organizers said the plan appeared to be succeeding despite the obstacles, as the whale left the barge off Wismar Bay on the Baltic coast at around 8.45am.How was Timmy transferred? To get the whale onto the boat, rescuers attached straps to it and made a specially dug channel in the sand to allow it to reach the ship. Rescuers swam alongside him as he entered the barge at high speed – much to the cheers of the crowd watching from the shore.The idea of the barge was hatched after early attempts by entrepreneurs to save whales with inflatable cushions and pontoons failed. After veterinarians said the whale was fit for transport, officials gave the go-ahead for the rescue.The saga has received non-stop coverage from TV channels, online outlets and social media influencers – but has also given rise to angry debate and conspiracy theories about how the whales strayed off track.
