A humpback whale, recently freed after several days trapped in shallow waters off a Baltic Sea resort in Germany, has become stranded again, unable to find its way back to the Atlantic Ocean. The initial, complex rescue of the 12-15 metre (39-49 feet) mammal from a sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand beach earlier this week had captivated the nation. Germans followed its progress intently, with media outlets issuing news alerts and streaming live video, making the whale a widespread topic of conversation.
Efforts to free the creature on Thursday involved an excavator digging an escape channel, following earlier unsuccessful attempts to coax it into deeper water using coast guard and fire department boats to generate large waves. Despite these extensive efforts, the whale found itself in difficulty once more on Saturday.
It finally swam through the man-made channel early on Friday, and rescuers lost track of it until it was spotted the following day, further east near the coastal town of Wismar, in the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania.
Greenpeace confirmed on Saturday that the mammal had become stranded again, German news agency dpa reported.
A spokesperson for Mecklenburg-Pomerania's environment ministry told dpa that “after managing to free itself from its plight, the whale was spotted again at noon today in Wismar Bay.”
It was not immediately known if another rescue attempt would be mounted.
It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea. Some experts pondered that the animal may have lost its way when it swam after a shoal of herring, while another theory is that the whale is likely a male, as males tend to migrate.
The marine mammal cannot survive in the Baltic Sea long-term. Among other issues, the salt concentration of the water isn't high enough and the creature has already developed a skin disease, local media reported. It also won't be able to find the right kind of nutrition it needs.
If it is to survive it will need to return to the Atlantic Ocean, which is a journey of several hundred kilometers (miles) through German and Danish waters.
