Timmendorfer Strand: “Poor guy” – sick whale stranded off Schleswig-Holstein | EUROtoday

Using inflatable boats, drones and dry fits, specialists and firefighters test whether or not and the way a whale stranded off Timmendorfer Strand (Ostholstein district) could be rescued. Numerous helpers had been engaged on the seashore since noon – they had been noticed by quite a few onlookers.

In the early afternoon, firefighters tried to get the dwell animal again into deeper water within the Baltic Sea utilizing an inflatable boat. They turned the whale in direction of the deeper channel.

According to the police, the marine mammal was found within the water off the Niendorf district on Monday evening. The police had cordoned off the world on the seashore across the web site of the invention. The whale stored shifting barely and respiration noises might be heard.

Experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) in Büsum (Dithmarschen district) of the Hannover University of Veterinary Medicine look at the animal.

Two ITAW specialists got here inside a couple of meters of the whale, which they stated was a humpback whale. They wore orange drysuits to look at the big animal. “The humpback whale doesn’t look very good from the skin,” stated ITAW knowledgeable Stephanie Groß. The animal was sick.

“The whale has freedom of movement in the head area and in the wing area. However, it appears to be resting on its chest or stomach,” Groß defined additional. The drawback is that the world in entrance of the stranded whale is even shallower. He needed to by some means get again into the deeper channel. It may be that the animal will get stranded once more or dies regardless of being rescued. Nevertheless, it’s price attempting to free it – if doable.

“We know for a fact that it’s a humpback whale.”

The ITAW workers used a drone to take an aerial image to evaluate how the animal, which was caught on a sandbank, might be freed.

The marine conservation group Sea Shepherd had found clues in regards to the species: “We know quite definitely that it is a humpback whale because we have now seen the animal in its entirety,” stated spokesman Sven Biertumfel. It might be a younger bull whale as a result of, not like the cows, the male animals are on the transfer.

The spokesman additionally assumes that the animal is similar whale that has been seen within the Wismar harbor in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania since March.

“First of all, this is a very touching moment and a very serious moment,” stated Environment Minister Tobias Goldschmidt (Greens), who acquired an thought of ​​the state of affairs on web site. “And I really hope that people who vacation here also recognize that and keep their distance from this animal.” The causes for the stranding haven’t but been clarified.

However, the Baltic Sea will not be a pure habitat for a humpback whale. “It has far too little salt in the water,” defined Goldschmidt. He hopes that will probably be doable to get the animal free. “And if it doesn’t work, then he can come to his end in peace,” he emphasised. Numerous onlookers – together with some youngsters – watch the spectacle from a pier – a few of them additionally take photographs.

“I am totally overwhelmed to see such a large animal,” stated Jörg Wasmus, who drove to the ocean along with his household from Braunschweig final weekend. “I always had the dream of seeing a whale, but it’s a shame that it’s so sad,” he stated. When he learn in regards to the stranded animal on the Internet that morning, he instantly drove to the seashore along with his grandchildren. They wished to see “how the poor guy was doing.”