Dead humpback whale Timmy stuck on sandbank, move postponed

Plans to move the dead humpback whale Timmy from the Danish island of Anholt to Grenaa Harbour have been postponed after the carcass became stuck on a sandbank, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (Miljøstyrelsen) has told DR.

Jane Hansen, a department head at the agency, said that after several attempts to shift the whale it had lodged on a sandbar a short distance from shore. The original plan was to transport the carcass to Grenaa Harbour, where conditions are better for further work, and then perform a necropsy.

According to Miljøstyrelsen, the move is now not expected to take place until after Pentecost, meaning no earlier than next week.

Timmy first stranded near Lübeck on Germany’s Baltic coast in early March. German authorities abandoned rescue efforts in late April, after which a group of private individuals launched a rescue operation that brought the whale through Danish waters. The operation drew criticism from experts, who described it as animal cruelty. The whale then stranded at Anholt last week and was declared dead.