Rescue of Timmy the whale ‘an all-round catastrophe’ after tracker failure

<p>Marine experts criticise €1.5m privately funded operation as humpback’s fate remains unknown after release into Baltic</p><p>Marine biologists and whale experts have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/29/rescue-stranded-timmy-whale-germany-inadvisable">stepped up their criticism</a> of a privately funded operation to release a humpback whale that was stranded for weeks off Germany’s Baltic coast after it emerged that a tracker fitted to the whale was not working.</p><p>The whereabouts and health of the young male whale – nicknamed Timmy after one of the sandbanks it was stranded on – remain unknown three days after it was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/28/timmy-whale-barge-rescue-attempt-germany">transported in a water-holding barge</a> pulled by a tugboat to waters off the coast of Denmark.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/expert-brands-rescue-of-timmy-the-whale-an-all-round-catastrophe-over-deficient-tracker">Continue reading...</a>