Overview
- Rescuers, who said Friday the effort had reached a “decisive phase,” moved in near the island of Poel to prepare a lift as the whale showed brief tail movement.
- The plan uses inflatable cushions to raise the 13.5‑meter humpback off the seabed, then a reinforced tarp and a tugboat to tow it toward deeper water and the North Sea.
- State authorities approved the privately financed mission from two multimillionaires, including Walter Gunz, after earlier halting interventions and predicting the whale would die.
- Experts describe the animal as severely weakened with skin disease from the Baltic’s low salt levels, suspected internal injuries, and signs of past entanglement and a possible propeller strike.
- Public interest has surged with live streams, protests, a police exclusion zone, and one thwarted attempt to swim to the whale, and the outcome could shape how governments weigh private rescue bids in future strandings.