Rescuers Abandon Hope for Stranded Humpback Whale in Germany

Rescuers in Germany have abandoned hope for a humpback whale that has stranded repeatedly along the Baltic Sea coast, predicting the exhausted animal will die in a shallow inlet on the island of Poel near Wismar. The roughly 13-meter-long mammal, nicknamed Timmy, became stuck there on Tuesday after freeing itself from previous entrapments.

The whale's ordeal began on March 3, when it was first sighted in the Baltic Sea, an area far from its typical Atlantic habitat and ill-suited to its needs due to lower salinity and scarce food sources. Over the following weeks, it encountered trouble multiple times in shallow waters. Last week, authorities used an excavator to dig an escape channel at Timmendorfer Strand, a resort town about 50 kilometers west of its current position, allowing the whale to swim free temporarily. It then moved eastward, escaping a sandbank near Wismar late Saturday before grounding again Sunday in the inlet off Poel.

Efforts to aid the whale shifted in recent days from direct intervention to providing it with quiet and space to recover strength on its own. Teams occasionally approached with boats to encourage movement, while establishing a 500-meter restricted...