After weeks of blocking further rescue attempts, the Schwerin Ministry of the Environment has changed course and cleared the way for a private rescue operation. However, the condition is that the initiators assume full liability for the manoeuvre in the shallow coastal area. The aim is to carefully lift the weakened whale with air cushions and tow it between two pontoons towards the North Sea.
Risky pontoon manoeuvre
The plan is to first remove the silt from the humpback whale's pectoral fins. Lifting bags will then be placed under the whale's body to raise it. Bedded on a special tarpaulin and secured between two pontoons, the whale will then be lifted out of the bay. One thing is certain: The situation remains critical, as experts continue to warn of the strain on the organism.
Change of course at the ministry
Since the beginning of March Numerous attemptsto free the humpback whale by means of dredging or navigational assistance. However, as the Ministry of the Environment recently considered a successful rescue to be hopeless, the authorities had discontinued their efforts. The present concept for the whale rescue now enables a "responsible reassessment based on new technical possibilities", according to the Ministry of the Environment's press release. The private initiative must bear the costs and risks in full itself. Veterinarians will monitor the operation on site.
Humpback whale Timmi gets company
In addition to the situation off Poel, a suspected beluga whale sighting in the Flensburg Fjord is causing a stir. After the beluga whale was spotted in Danish waters heading for Germany weeks ago, there is still no confirmed evidence of it in the German waters. Although such encounters in the Baltic Sea are rare, they have been reported sporadically in the past. In the Netherlands too, at the beginning of the year, a Beluga whale sighted.
David Ingelfinger
Volontär
