There are already concrete plans for the time after Timmy’s death.Image: keystone
It’s probably only a matter of time before humpback whale Timmy stops breathing in the Baltic Sea and dies. There are already concrete plans for the time after his death.
April 12, 2026, 8:25 a.mApril 12, 2026, 8:25 a.m
Leon Pollok / t-online
The stranded humpback whale Timmy is dying off the island of Poel in the Baltic Sea. The animal is regularly wetted with water, it still breathes and emits jets of water. But the experts have given up on the colossus: Timmy will probably die and no further rescue attempts should be made. At the request of t-online, a company is now commenting on concrete plans for what should happen to the whale after its death.
Timmy should first be scientifically examined. Tom Bär, research associate at the German Marine Museum in Stralsund, said at the beginning of April: “If the animal dies, it should be scientifically examined in a necropsy. Both the body and the organs are examined and sampled.” The aim is to find out whether the whale was sick and what role the net that got caught in its mouth played.
Whale Timmy in the Baltic Sea: What happens to the skeleton?
It is unclear what will happen to the skeleton. The University of Rostock has expressed interest in this, said the scientific director of the German Oceanographic Museum, Burkard Baschek.
The company SecAnim said it would be responsible for removing the carcass. A spokesman for the company told t-online: “After the dissection by the scientists, the animal carcass disposal company SecAnim, which is responsible for Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, would be commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment to take over the subsequent professional disposal of the whale carcass.”
Humpback whale is supposed to become fuel
After the skeleton is removed, whale Timmy will already be “largely dismantled,” said the spokesman. The transport then takes place “with completely closed, liquid-tight special vehicles”. The company’s goal will then be a location in the 6,000-inhabitant town of Malchin, where the whale carcass will be further processed. This is done in compliance with “the highest hygiene standards in accordance with the legal requirements,” emphasized the SecAnim spokesman.
The end products are then “used as a CO2-neutral fuel in power plants and the cement industry” or “are further processed into high-quality and environmentally friendly biodiesel”. The company spokesman made it clear: “Even if a whale is a special animal, the processing steps do not differ from those of other animal species or other animal raw materials.”
The company writes on its website that the processing of animal carcasses into biodiesel is “an active contribution to sustainable mobility and industrial production.”
Costs of humpback whale recovery still unclear
It is not yet possible to predict how expensive the recovery and further processing of the whale will be and how long it will take. So far, the costs associated with the whale’s rescue attempts have been limited: a spokesman for the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Ministry of the Environment recently told the “Bild” newspaper: “We’re talking about around 1,000 euros.” Most of the helpers worked on a voluntary basis, while government employees had to work overtime.
No order has yet been placed with the company, as a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment confirmed to t-online. As long as the animal is still alive, there is no reason for this, he said.