Mayor criticizes whale tourism on the Baltic Sea

2.30 p.m.: According to the mayor, rescue efforts for the whale stranded in the Baltic Sea off Timmendorfer Strand were occasionally hindered. He asked onlookers not to disturb the measures surrounding the stranded animal.

Emergency services had been fighting for the animal’s survival in the shallow water off the coast for around 24 hours. The whale is alive and keeps making a deep, humming sound, Mayor Sven Partheil-Böhnke told the dpa.

However, the measures to save him were repeatedly disrupted by onlookers. According to the mayor, people tried to approach the animal on Monday with rowing boats and inflatable boats or to bypass barriers. Partheil-Böhnke criticized that they obviously don’t care what it does to the whale. He condemned the actions and appealed to the public to leave the animal alone. Such approaches caused the whale to panic and complicated the already complex rescue efforts.

A stranded whale is not normally part of the municipality’s core business, the mayor said. “We’re still learning. But saving the animal is the highest priority.” At Easter, almost everything in the tourist region is fully booked – the removal of a possible carcass could fuel “whale tourism” even more and hinder the work. “We want to avoid that,” emphasized the mayor.

Expert: Killing the whale is not an option

1:58 p.m.: According to an expert, killing the stranded whale to relieve it of possible suffering is not an option. There are international agreements on what can be done and how, said Ursula Siebert, head of the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) at the Hanover University of Veterinary Medicine, to the dpa news agency.

According to Sea Shepherd, the approximately ten meter long animal is a humpback whale, probably a young male. “The bigger the whale is, the more difficult the whole thing becomes,” explained Siebert. You are confronted with this again and again. “Not so common in the Baltic Sea, thank God.” But for example with sperm whale strandings in the Wadden Sea or strandings of other whale species in the North Sea. “And it’s just very, very difficult to euthanize a whale under the circumstances that we have here.”

A problem is the use of weapons and the necessary calibers with potential danger to the surrounding area. Looking at the international agreements, we see little opportunity in Germany, as well as in neighboring countries. “It’s better to ensure that sperm whales die in a dignified and stress-free manner,” said Siebert.

What happened?

Concern about the whale stranded in the Baltic Sea continues. On Tuesday morning the animal was still lying in the shallow water in front of the Niendorf district. The whale is doing the same, Carsten Mannheimer from the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd told the dpa news agency. He breathes and makes noises. Occasionally he raises his head.

It was not initially clear how the rescue attempts would continue. According to Mannheimer, experts from the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research (ITAW) in Büsum, the Hanover University of Veterinary Medicine and emergency services wanted to discuss in the morning how to proceed.

The flood around midnight was not enough for the ten-meter-long animal to swim free on its own, a police spokesman said early in the morning. According to police, the marine mammal was discovered in the water off the Niendorf district on Monday night.