June 3, 2026, 3:52 p.mJune 3, 2026, 3:52 p.m
Timmy was pulled out of the water at the weekend – he will have an autopsy tomorrow.Image: News5
The beach on the Danish island of Anholt will be the venue for the autopsy of the humpback whale known as “Timmy” on Thursday. Veterinarians and whale experts want to examine the carcass and take scientific samples.
The press and public are allowed to watch. The Danish whale researcher Peter Teglberg Madsen warned: This will not be for the faint of heart. “The whale has been lying in the sun for a long time and will smell very bad,” he told the German Press Agency.
A rescue team pulled the carcass out of the shallow water onto the beach over the weekend. The whale had already been lying dead off the island for two weeks. The sandy ground around the whale was smoothed out at the beginning of the week with the help of a wheel loader.
Some metal plates were then laid out and containers were prepared.
This is how the autopsy will go
The investigation team is scheduled to arrive on the small holiday island by ferry on Thursday afternoon. The autopsy is expected to take about six hours. Above all, the experts want to find out what caused the whale to die.
“The animal will first be measured, its gender will be determined, and then skin samples will be taken for a DNA test,” explained whale expert Madsen. The team will document external injuries and look for signs of disease and parasites.
“Then you will puncture the carcass with a long knife, cut a kind of hole in it,” said Madsen. “It’s going to be intense: you can imagine it like puncturing a balloon – there’s really pressure on it.”
The carcass had become very bloated in recent weeks due to putrefactive gases.
The organs and other parts of the animal are then thoroughly examined, for example for internal bleeding. Water in the lungs could be an indication that the whale drowned. “Because the animal has been dead for so long, it might be difficult to say anything about it.”
Remains of the carcass: Take the ferry to the mainland
The experts will search for plastic and fishing material in the humpback whale’s intestines.
“Four of the last six humpback whales stranded in Denmark had previous contact with fishing nets – and we know for sure that they contributed to their deaths,” said Madsen, who says he has been present at every whale autopsy in Denmark over the last 25 years.
It was not actually planned that the examinations would take place directly on the beach in Anholt. The Danish authorities had originally tried to drag the carcass to a port. But that failed.
After the autopsy, the remains will now be taken to a processing facility on the mainland. (sda/dpa)