Overview
- The 12–15 meter humpback, which swam free late Monday near Wismar, was found stuck again Tuesday near the inlet by Walfisch island, authorities said.
- Police and Greenpeace sent small boats to steer it away from shallows, and it is now in water deep enough to depart under its own power if it regains strength.
- Earlier efforts last week used dredgers, boats and an excavator-cut channel to free it at Timmendorfer Strand, after which it twice stranded again in Wismar Bay.
- Scientists report the whale is weak, breathing only about once every four minutes, and has skin disease linked to the Baltic’s low salt levels, so no tracker was attached.
- Even if it moves off, it still must navigate narrow Danish straits for several hundred kilometers to reach the North Sea and Atlantic, and experts say an escort is not feasible for a diving whale.