Against the odds, a 40-foot humpback whale that had been stranded in shallow waters off the coast of northern Germany swam to the open sea overnight, the culmination of extensive efforts to save it.
After four days and several failed attempts, marine rescuers hatched a last-ditch plan. They ordered an excavator, which they assembled on Thursday afternoon, to dredge the sand around the giant mammal, hoping to create a channel for it to swim out into the Baltic Sea from the Niendorf beach in the Bay of Lübeck.
It is exceptionally difficult to save a stranded whale. This one had suffered a skin infection, and had parts of a fish net stuck in its mouth. But by Thursday night, the signs were positive: The whale had moved a few yards through the newly dug channel, said Stephanie Gross, a member of the rescue effort and a veterinarian at the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife in Germany.
The channel was substantially completed by late Thursday, and rescuers awoke Friday to the news that the whale had swum out to deeper waters. By 6 a.m., some stood on the beach and saw it with their own eyes. An hour later, they received a call from local authorities saying that the whale had made substantial progress toward open waters.
By midday Friday, the whale was still in the bay, but rescue boats were nearby, attempting to coax the whale toward the North Sea, Dr. Gross said.
“We are actually really quite exhausted, but of course we are really happy that the animal made it on its own,” she said. “Hopefully he will be OK with being guided out of the bay.”
Until Friday morning, it was not at all clear that the whale would be able to swim away. Experts determined that the whale, believed to be a male weighing some 26,000 pounds, would have a higher chance of survival if it swam free on its own, rather than being pushed or towed. Creating a channel seemed like the most viable option.
Rescuers had hoped on Thursday that if the whale could swim free, it would find its way into deeper waters.
Still, the North Sea is a long way away, more than 200 nautical miles, and the rescue is not finished. As night drew nearer on Friday, it was unclear how long the boats could keep the whale in sight. Researchers had not been not able to tag it because of its skin infection, so tracking it could depend on sightings by the public. The whale’s shortest route to the North Sea is past Danish islands; the coast of Gothenburg, Sweden; and then west toward Norway.
“We have to see how it goes in the next days and weeks,” Dr. Gross said, adding: “All our fingers are crossed.”
Jenny Gross is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news and other topics.
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