A humpback whale that became stranded in shallow Baltic Sea waters has successfully swum free, with experts hoping no further rescue attempts will be necessary.
Regional officials reported that after initially heading towards the harbour, it turned towards the open sea. There have been no new sightings of the animal as of Tuesday morning.
Last week, an earlier effort to free the whale from an underwater sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand, a nearby resort town, proved successful with the aid of an excavator.
However, the visibly exhausted whale soon found itself in difficulty again, albeit in slightly deeper water.
Officials then opted to leave it undisturbed, hoping it would gather enough strength to swim away independently.
The whale’s plight has captivated the German public, drawing crowds to the shore and prompting extensive media coverage, including detailed updates and live video streams.
Despite its newfound freedom, the whale remains a considerable distance from its natural habitat and faces a monumental journey to navigate the North Sea and reach the Atlantic Ocean.
“The whale swimming free yesterday is a first very good sign, but the way to the North Sea is still long and we can only keep our fingers crossed that it makes it there,” Burkard Baschek, the scientific director of the Ocean Museum Germany and the scientific coordinator of the rescue effort, told ZDF television.
He said it wouldn’t be practical to try to escort the whale on that journey of several hundred kilometers (miles), pointing to whales’ ability to dive. “That means that in principle we can only hope that it will make it under its own steam,” he added.
No tracker has been attached to the whale because its skin is in a poor state after long exposure to the relatively low salt concentration of the Baltic.
The whale was first spotted swimming in the region on March 3.
It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way when it swam after a shoal of herring, or during migration.