Overview
- Timmy left a water-filled transport barge under his own power, and a rescue leader said he was swimming in the right direction.
- The mission won approval after public pressure and was funded by two wealthy backers after officials had earlier ended rescue efforts.
- Marine biologists caution that weeks of immobility can stiffen muscles so a whale may not stay buoyant in deep water, risking sinking and suffocation.
- The young humpback first stranded on Baltic sandbanks in late March and then restranded several times, which reports say left him in poor shape.
- Crews dredged a channel, lifted the whale in slings, and towed a flooded cargo barge through Danish waters to reach the North Sea.