A whale managed to free itself from a sandbar off the coast of Germany — Bild
A dramatic rescue operation involving a humpback whale that had become trapped near the island of Niedenhof has come to an end in the Baltic Sea.
This was reported by Bild.
On the night of March 27, the marine giant managed to free itself from the shallows and began moving toward the open sea.
Drones from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover captured the animal as it moved into safe waters.
Currently, the whale is being escorted by six coast guard vessels, which are guiding it toward Denmark, where the path to the Atlantic Ocean opens up.
As rescue operation coordinator Sebastian Stoll explained, weather conditions were a key factor in the success.
Overnight, strong winds caused the water level in the bay to rise by about half a meter, giving the animal the depth it needed to maneuver.
“Overnight, the water level in the bay rose by about half a meter due to the wind, which helped the animal free itself from the shallows,” a rescue service representative told Bild reporters.
This success was preceded by the painstaking work of rescuers, who had manually dug a special channel in the sandbar the day before. Thanks to these efforts, the whale was able to move 40 meters closer to deeper water before the tide came in.
Marine biologist Robert Mark Lehmann clarified that the whale found is not a young whale, as previously thought. According to him, it is an adult or even an elderly animal, whose physical condition is causing some concern among experts.
“The feeling is one of cautious euphoria. After all, the whale is not in the best of health. Its skin looks bad, it is weak, and it hasn’t eaten anything in a long time. Remnants of the net are still in its mouth. It was unable to remove them,” the biologist shared his observations.
As a reminder, a whale that became stranded on a shoal is being rescued off the coast of Germany.
Also in Germany, a whale rescue operation failed.
