Backhaus Presents Tracker Data on Whale "Timmy" – One Month After the Animal's Death

The humpback whale had endured a weeks-long odyssey through the Baltic Sea before being released from a barge into the North Sea on 2 May. It had first appeared on 3 March in the harbor of Wismar, drawing onlookers to the quay edge. Rescue workers removed net remnants from the animal at the time, but not completely. In the following days and weeks, helpers repeatedly struggled to free the whale from remnants of fishing nets and lines – including on 7 March off Boltenhagen, on 20 March off Haffkrug and Scharbeutz, and on 23 March on a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand, where it was stuck in shallow water for days.

Backhaus himself had described the whale as "critically ill" and warned that a rescue operation could kill the animal from stress. On 1 April, those responsible announced that there would be no further rescue attempts in order to give the weakened whale some rest. A survey vessel began on 2 April to explore the area around the animal in preparation for a later recovery of the body. On 7 April, experts together with Backhaus presented findings of an assessment on the whale's condition. A renewed attempt on 11 April to mobilize the animal using underwater whale songs, however, was unsuccessful.

Course Change in April: Ministry Tolerates the Transport

In mid-April, the ministry's stance shifted: On 15 April, Backhaus surprisingly announced that the authorities would tolerate the transport concept of a private initiative. The plan was to bring the animal alive to the North Sea and, if necessary, the Atlantic. The operation, launched on 16 April, was financed by entrepreneur Karin Walter-Mommert and MediaMarkt founder Walter Gunz. A truck convoy with mobile cranes, floating pontoons, and pipes arrived at the harbor of Kirchdorf. On 17 April, the humpback whale reacted violently with strong movements when approached by a diver. On 20 April, the animal swam off on its own in the morning; helpers attempted from boats to drive it toward the open Baltic Sea, but after two hours the whale stranded again in shallow water, this time at the transition from the Kirchsee to the Wismar Bay.

On 27 April, a 50-meter-long and 13-meter-wide barge arrived in Wismar, having been brought there via the Kiel Canal. On 28 April, a tugboat took over the engineless barge with the whale and towed it toward the North Sea. On 30 April, experts from the Stralsund Oceanographic Museum warned against releasing the animal at sea – it could drown immediately. On 2 May, the humpback whale was then released into the Skagerrak, roughly 70 kilometers from Skagen. On 3 May, however, there was no data from the transmitter, and the whale's whereabouts were unknown.

Release in the Skagerrak and Search for the Animal

It was not until 15 May that a dead whale was discovered off the Danish island of Anholt. On 16 May, the serial number of the transmitter confirmed that it was the same animal that helpers had been fighting to save since March. On 19 May, the Danish authorities announced that the carcass would be recovered and autopsied. On 4 June, the dead humpback whale was publicly autopsied on the beach of the Danish island. The expert team was initially unable to determine a clear cause of death. What became clear, however, was that the whale with the male name "Timmy" is, as is now known, a female. The remains of the animal were to be processed in Denmark, including into biodiesel.

What the Transmitter Could – and Could Not – Do

At the center of the data now presented is the transmitter the animal was wearing. According to the initiative's statement, at least some movement data such as dive depths were initially recorded – though these were not sent to the ministry either. According to this, the device never sent location data. The initiative had stated as a reason that there had been problems with the transmitter. The transmitter did not record vital signs in a medical sense such as heart or breathing rate; that would have required special sensors.

Data can only be transmitted at the water's surface, that is, when the respective animal surfaces and the antenna is out of the water long enough. The devices also have a memory, however, which can be read out afterwards. Positions and measurement data captured by trackers are transmitted via satellite – often through the Argos system – and can be viewed online by the user. Experts had unanimously criticized that the tracker had not been tested and initialized before release, although this is important and standard for common whale satellite transmitters, such as those from Wildlife Computers. The already heavily decomposed carcass of the whale was autopsied after stranding on the Danish island of Anholt, initially without concrete results regarding the cause of death. Why "Timmy" died could not be clarified so far – not even through an autopsy.

The rescue operation remains controversial. Even before the transport, the course of events at the time had divided critics and supporters: While conservation organizations such as Sea Shepherd repeatedly removed net remnants from the animal, other experts questioned the benefit of a relocation. The timing also remains in dispute: Between March and early May, the animal's condition had repeatedly deteriorated in experts' assessment, which retrospectively casts the authorities' decision to leave the animal in front of Poel for weeks in a different light.

Chronology of a Weeks-Long Rescue

The minister himself had observed the animal for weeks in front of the Mecklenburg island of Poel, until the initiative – after much daily commotion around the whale – set off with it toward the North Sea on 28 April. A private initiative transported it on a barge toward the North Sea, before it was ultimately washed up on the coast of the Danish island of Anholt. On 23 March, it had been discovered on a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand, swam away a few days later, and repeatedly stranded again. On 27 March, it was no longer in the shore area off Timmendorfer Strand in the early morning, but was swimming in the Lübeck Bay. On 28 March, it remained on a sandbank in the Wismar Bay south of Walfisch Island. On 30 March, it was swimming again late in the evening, after experts had tried to stimulate it with noise; it was seen at the harbor of Wismar and was later heading seaward toward the pier. On 31 March, the humpback whale was sighted again off Wismar and ultimately remained in the Kirchsee off the island of Poel.

On 4 March, the whale was seen again in the Lübeck Bay, off Brook west of Wismar. On 10 March, the animal became entangled in a fishing net off the coast near Steinbeck in Nordwestmecklenburg, according to the water protection police; a local fisherman hauled in the net and cut through it. On 19 March, Sea Shepherd observed from the "Triton" how the whale swam into the Trave off Travemünde.

The analysis of the subsequently read-out transmission memory is, according to the ministry, to show how the animal moved after its release on 2 May. Thus, the last documented period of the whale's life is now at least outlined in basic features. Viewers were able to send questions and comments throughout the day in the comment column or by email to zdfheute-live@zdf.de. With the press conference, the public review of those weeks in which a single sick humpback whale attracted nationwide attention – without the central question having been answered so far: why "Timmy" died – comes to a preliminary end.

A Reckoning Without a Clear Cause of Death

The initiative has been under criticism since the animal's death because it had transported the whale on a multi-day journey in the first place. The ministerial tolerance of the operation is also under discussion. Backhaus had justified tolerating the transport on 15 April with the prospect that the animal could have better chances of survival in the Atlantic than in the shallow Baltic waters. In fact, the animal died just under two weeks later off Anholt. The exact movement data from the transmitter's memory are now to help assess the case in its entirety – as one of the most unusual rescue attempts ever to have taken place in German waters.

What is clear so far is that the whale, which kept people along the Baltic coast on tenterhooks in early March, did not make it to the Atlantic.