Whale found: Dead humpback whale in the Greifswalder Bodden

Another whale drama has unfolded off the Baltic coast. "At 08:16, the water protection police were notified that a lifeless whale was floating in the Greifswalder Bodden," Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) announced. A few hours later, an expert from the German Marine Museum in Stralsund went out with a boat and confirmed the death of the approximately seven-meter-long humpback whale, which was floating on its back in the water near the shipping channel.

In the spring, a humpback whale had stranded off the island of Poel near Wismar in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The animal, nicknamed "Timmy" by many people, was transported to the North Sea in a controversial and costly operation, but a few days later it washed up dead off the Danish island of Anholt.

A dead whale is being pulled to the island of Dänholm by a boat, according to the German Marine Museum in Stralsund. The small island of Dänholm lies off the Hanseatic city, where the Nautineum, an outpost of the German Marine Museum, is located. The transport is expected to arrive there on the evening of the day, a spokeswoman for the museum said. On Friday, scientists plan to dissect the marine mammal.

The Baltic Sea is not a natural habitat for large whales, and it is rare for them to be found there. The relatively low-salt water of the Baltic Sea is a burden for them. Why do they swim into this environment that is hostile to them? Minister Backhaus said: "There are indications that the humpback whale population in the Atlantic has recovered well in recent years. However, more animals apparently also mean more stray animals that swim into the Baltic Sea."

"Nevertheless, it saddens me that we have to record the death of a humpback whale in the Baltic Sea for the second time within a year, this time directly in the territorial waters of the state," Backhaus continued. He hopes that the dissection of the animal will provide information on "why such non-native animals die in our waters." He would like to learn more about this species in order to possibly counteract such events in the future.

There have been several whale sightings in recent weeks. A whale was spotted on the coast, first off Kiel, then further east: in the harbor basin of Wismar, off the Baltic resort of Wustrow, and most recently on Saturday past in the vicinity of the Polish resort of Miedzyzdroje. Experts from WWF Poland checked the condition of the marine mammal.

It swam freely and had not become entangled in fishing nets. A boat from the Polish water rescue service escorted the whale on its way east to the vicinity of the coastal town of Wiselka.

"Whether the whale that appeared in the Greifswalder Bodden is the same specimen, we don't know," said spokesman Stanislaw Poplochodzki from WWF Poland to the German Press Agency. It is unclear whether all the sightings were of the same animal. Possibly, more can be said when the marine mammal is taken out of the water and its back can be seen, said the spokeswoman of the German Marine Museum with a view to the planned autopsy on Friday. Photos of the sightings show the back of the whale.