The humpback whale that captured attention across Europe after a dramatic rescue attempt has been found dead off the coast of Denmark.
Officials confirmed Saturday that the whale discovered near the small Danish island of Anholt was the same animal that had been stranded multiple times along Germany’s Baltic Sea coast over the past few months.
The whale, nicknamed “Timmy” and “Hope,” had been released back into open waters on May 2 after rescuers transported it toward the North Sea using a flooded barge.
The whale’s body was spotted Thursday in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden, approximately 70 kilometers south of where it had been released.
Danish officials later recovered the tracking device still attached to the whale, which confirmed it was the same animal involved in the earlier rescue efforts.
Its death is a tragic end after weeks of trying to help the whale return to the ocean.
The whale was first seen off Germany’s coast back in March.
Experts never knew exactly why it entered the Baltic Sea in the first place, though some believed it may have gotten lost while following herring or during migration.
At one point in late March, crews even used an excavator to help free the whale from shallow waters near the German resort town of Timmendorfer Strand.
Not long afterwards, however, the animal once again became stranded nearby. The situation garnered a huge amount of attention from the public, with local media livestreaming updates.
By early April, some experts believed the whale likely would likely not survive. Still, the situation sparked some debate, with scientists, activists, rescue groups, and local officials arguing over whether trying to save the whale again was the right thing to do.
Animal activists pushed hard for the whale to be saved, while some scientists warned that additional rescue efforts could put even more stress on the already weak and exhausted animal.
Eventually, officials in Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state approved a privately funded rescue mission to move the whale onto a barge and guide it closer to the North Sea.
The rescue group later confirmed that the tracking device recovered from the dead whale matched the one attached during the operation.
Officials said it is still unclear exactly what caused the whale’s death.
A regional environment minister in Germany said the rescue attempt at least gave the whale one last shot at getting back to open waters and recovering, though it sadly did not survive.
Officials have not yet decided whether the whale’s body will be removed or examined further.
Officials said there are no plans right now to perform a necropsy, and they do not think the whale currently poses any major issue in the area.
Still, people are being warned to stay away from it because of possible disease risks and safety concerns.
