German minister defends decision to allow attempt to rescue whale Timmy

The German authorities have defended their decision to allow a risky rescue attempt of a stranded whale to go ahead, despite experts warning it was “inadvisable” because the animal was hurt and unlikely to survive. The saga of the whale, known as Timmy, had gripped Germany since the beached humpback was spotted stranded on Timmendorfer beach, a sandbank in shallow waters near the coast, nearly two months ago . On Saturday the whale’s death was confirmed by the Danish authorities , two weeks after it was transported to the North Sea in a rescue attempt. Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency said a whale had been found dead on Friday near ​the small ⁠island of Anholt in the Kattegat, a broad strait between Denmark and Sweden, and confirmed it was Timmy on Saturday. The agency told people to stay away from the whale’s body due to the possibility it may carry diseases, but on Sunday the Bild newspaper reported that two people had apparently posed for selfies next to the animal’s carcass. The whale was floated away from the sandbank and into a water-filled barge which was towed to the open sea. Photograph: Action Press/Shutterstock Till Backhaus, the Social Democratic (SPD) environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, insisted he had been right to allow the privately funded mission to go ahead, saying it was “perfectly human to seize even the slightest opportunity”. …