Denmark checks if dead whale is Germany’s recently rescued Timmy

The humpback whale recovered from a shallow bay off Wismar is being transported towards the North Sea in a flooded cargo ship just before the Danish border in Fehmarn, Germany, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (Philip Dulian/dpa via AP)

STOCKHOLM -- Danish authorities were checking on Friday if a dead whale found in its waters might be a humpback nicknamed Timmy whose protracted rescue and release captivated neighbouring Germany.

The juvenile male was guided through a freshly dredged channel onto a water-filled barge before being taken out to the North Sea earlier this month in an operation funded by two wealthy Germans off Timmendorfer beach for which it was named.

That split public opinion, with some Germans saying it would be better to put down the whale as it appeared to be disoriented or ill and would suffer too much stress in the operation.

Denmark’s Environmental Protection Agency said the dead humpback found near the small island of Anholt in the Kattegat strait about 200 km (124 miles) away could be Timmy and tissue samples had been collected for potential identification.

“This possibility cannot be ruled out,” spokesperson Dorte Kofoed said of speculation that it was Timmy.

(Reporting by Jesus Calero and Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Andrew Cawthorne)