Did Timmy the whale really survive?
Posted by Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit | whales | View on Reddit | 59 comments
Here is the link to an instagram profile that claims the funders of the operation wrote the statement above. https://www.instagram.com/p/DX3Emj8lFu-/?img_index=2
I am wondering what really happened.
energyconcious@reddit
What is wrong with the crew , the whole purpose of this it was to bring Timmy safe back to the ocean , but they don’t let the veterinarians do a health check before releasing him? It sounds like the crew wanted Timmy dead or have the least amount of change for survival , so they can deny rescue for any other whale that gets stranded!!! This I sickening, these people have to be investigated and prosecuted for not following the rules to properly protect a specie in danger. We need answers regarding Timmy ! Why did you guys not follow protocol? We need ANSWERS!
Valuable_K@reddit
The crew were being paid to rescue the whale. They have no incentive to want the whale dead.
However they probably completely screwed it up, injured the whale, and in the end had to drag him out of the boat to dump him in the ocean.
That's what they are trying to hide.
Alexinwonderland25@reddit
They dragged him by the tail for hours may or may not have been alive at that point but it was mentioned that the tugboat crew may have had a different job that they were trying to get to. But the fortuna the one that was pulling to me like hit out they couldn't find it for a long time after this event
Alexinwonderland25@reddit
They dragged Timmy out by his tail causes severe damage to the whales spine. That's why this letter was a big issue was because the tugboat spend hours pulling him by his tail
Flashy-Alps9560@reddit
The scientists are so arrogant - they believe they are the experts in everything.
MsBuzzkillington83@reddit
This is sarcasm right?
Lost_Total2534@reddit
Well how else would they be right about the whale dying if it doesn't die? Hello.
basaltcolumn@reddit
The experts who were saying the whale would die were not the same as the ones who were a part of the rescue effort.
Goliathonlinexo@reddit
The ones that were part of the actual rescue effort were barred from examining them like they were promised and no vets were part of the final release. They all either left because they were appalled or were forced to because they made demands.
Gramposity@reddit
Protocol would have been to leave the whale where it was. As soon as they started trying to "rescue" it, they weren't following protocol.
theDamningTruth@reddit
Fucked up to let him suggest like that when the whole reason he is there is unaturaly - human activity
Meliciraptor@reddit
The problem is that any information about his well being is coming from the private initiative that has a high interest in the public thinking they are the heroes that saved the whale. So no independent objective source. Still a lot of people believe them religiously. There are lot of vets from different organizations saying that his chance to survive was extremely low. In my opinion this is now the reality check that there isn’t always the happy end you wish for.
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
Yes i think it goes both ways. The "rescuers" of course want everyone to believe it was a success. And the "anti-rescuers" that couldnt come up with a working plan to help him or wanted to euthanize him, will of coures want everyone to believe this was a failure. No one would want to admit that their plan was a bad one and resulted in suffering. IF he is alive this is amazing of course, after all I guess there is a lot we dont know about whale strandings and why they occur. I wonder if they could remove the fishing net caught in his mouth? Otherwise it is just horrible.
kitnzkat@reddit
Was euthanasia on the table? I thought the decision was either to take him out to sea, where he might drown, or leave him to suffer and die in the sun and being attacked by birds over possibly weeks or months. I thought they didn't want to euthanize him because of legal red tape.
I stand by drowning being preferable to what would have happened to him if he'd been left there.
flatlining-fly@reddit
You might want to read this article from IWC. They are giving a short explanation why euthanasia wasn’t possible. Additionally Germany has some strict laws related to the environment. Chemical euthanasia poses to many risks for every living beings and plants, maybe even the water itself. Explosives weren’t an option due to the safety risks for the public. Shooting probably falls under "extraordinary logistical (…) challenges“.
In this article they state that further rescue attempts isn’t worth it because the outcome for a successful or unsuccessful rescue would be death and it would cause more (unnecessary) harm than good.
kitnzkat@reddit
Right, that’s what I figured, that it wasn’t possible for legal reasons and for environmental reasons.
It still would have been more humane for the whale, and so is drowning at sea.
flatlining-fly@reddit
I‘m on the same page. At least drowning is quicker.
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
I thought so but you might be right, I just saw it being discussed somewhere. But if it wasnt possible to put him down, I certainly do not understand the discussion at all. How can it be more humane to let him die in the sun with birds eating him alive, than to let him drown?
kitnzkat@reddit
Oh, okay. Yeah, from what I understand, the decision was either take him out to sea, where he would probably die but would at least drown. Or leave him to suffer in excruciating agony in shallow water. Usually, whales get beached further up on land and die fairly quickly from asphyxiation, and it's easier and safer to euthanize them when they're on land. You can also cover them with blankets on land to protect them better from birds.
ladymorgahnna@reddit
Yes, so far and he’s been tagged to keep tabs on him for research purposes. Here’s an article
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-unlikely-rescue-of-timmy-the-stranded-humpback-whale
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
Some sources are claiming the tag is not working though.
NoWorldliness6660@reddit
It's bullshit. The tag is working, Dr. Tönnies, his vet, gives regular updates. They have received several signals, and he is swimming in the right direction.
MsBuzzkillington83@reddit
Source?
Smart-Plantain4032@reddit
No more signal….
Esguelha@reddit
Where can I see this? All the info I found was that tag was not reporting location, but was reporting that he was alive. Which sounds like bullshit to me.
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
Where can I read about this?
julesvr5@reddit
This is probably the best German newspaper source you can find: https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/ostsee-wal-geldgeber-der-rettungsaktion-erheben-schwere-vorwuerfe-a-feecf803-333e-4445-b7a7-40dabc538ad2
Nothing yet that indicated why he shouldn't survive and they (in addition to Bild) speak about the data from the tracker hasn't been shared yet, not that it's not working
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
But some sources are saying there is no data, or that it doesnt work properly so the location of him is unknown? I think they would never admit that he might be dead at this stage, it would be easier for them to just say it doesnt seem to work properly and then wait for people to forget about this.
julesvr5@reddit
Are these sources trustworthy though?
MsBuzzkillington83@reddit
More so than that one German news source
This is an excellent one for example
It states how even the mission doner had distanced themselves from the final release. That's not a great sign
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/expert-brands-rescue-of-timmy-the-whale-an-all-round-catastrophe-over-deficient-tracker
Jane_xD@reddit
Not less trustworthy than Spiegel itself. Thats the problem.
Crazy_Werewolf294@reddit (OP)
I dont know, I have read about it on timmywhale.com. But the updates seem to disappear when they are older. The latest one is this "It is still unclear where Timmy is located. He was released on Saturday about 70 kilometers from Denmark's northernmost city, Skagen. Information about his condition at this time and the exact release process was not disclosed, nor were there any publicly accessible images or videos. The tracking transmitter does not send GPS data." And yesterday, I read that they got "vital signs" from the whale via the tracker, but someone from greenpeace said that those transmitters are not able to send vital signs. I think some stuff might get lost in translation aswell, the updates are originally in german.
Gramposity@reddit
They had attached a normal GPS tracker to the whale. These do not collect any physiological parameters, so they only report position. Thus, there is no way of remotely knowing the animal’s condition. If the tracker stops moving, or is at the surface a lot, one can infer that the animal isn’t moving. If it is movig with the prevailing currents, the animal is likely dead. If it stops transmitting, it could have failed, fallen off, or the animal has either sunk or has rotated and is now belly up.
Gramposity@reddit
There are a a lot of reasons why this whale shouldn't survive. Given the wealth of problems he had and his weakened state, the onus is on the "rescuers" to provide verifiable evidence that the whale is still moving normally. They had every opportunity to attach reliable, long-term tags and make those tracks available for independent review.
Necessary_Balance155@reddit
I would believe Jenna because she was the one that decided to remove herself from the rescue after she didn’t agree with certain decisions that where made. Only heard good things about her as a vet.
Necessary_Balance155@reddit
According to the vet that was really close to his rescue Jenna Wallace hes alive. She posted that today.
FlowerProper@reddit
All the negative comments from so called experts, vets etc about the final hours of Timmy the whale are unbelievable. Are we not forgetting if it was down to these experts advice the whale would have been euthanized a few weeks earlier. He was given another chance and yes we may never know Timmys final fate at least he had a chance and rescuers can rest assured at least they tried their best with hours of care whilst stranded. If the tracker had shown readouts showing his demise the incriminations would of been never ending. Timmy has disappeared into the blue beyond from which he came. We can only hope the inner strength he showed over the past few weeks has continued and he is now in familiar waters swimming free..
Gramposity@reddit
Would you say the same thing if you knew that the whale suffered horribly for several weeks during and because of the “rescue” attempt?
theDamningTruth@reddit
I don't see how thats better than letting him suffer for who knows how much longer to reach the same end?
Gramposity@reddit
You are dying on a hospital bed. Multiple doctors say there is nothig they can do. You are on your way out. They don’t know how long you have, but you are definitely dying.
In come some faith healers and they spend all of their time chanting, playing drums, flashing lights, and shoving you. They randomly pick you up and try to make you walk. They bring in contractors to knock down a wall in ykur room. These are slow workers, so they take a couple of weeks to do all of this.
Is this the way you’d want to go out?
kitnzkat@reddit
More like you're dying on a hospital bed while your back is occasionally set on fire and gulls swarm you and rip at your flesh.
He should have been euthanized. If he couldn't be euthanized then bringing him out to sea where he could drown was clearly the better option even if the people involved are imbeciles at best.
basaltcolumn@reddit
I wonder if their earlier attempts to drag him out by the fluke did clear serious damage and they barred the vets from assessing then just dumped him to avoid taking responsibility for it. What a shitshow. I'm very sad that my skepticism about the ethicality of this operation was proved justified. I hoped he'd pull through. Fingers crossed for Timmy being alive, but it seems unlikely especially with all the confusion about if there's a functional tracker on him or not.
theDamningTruth@reddit
If that's the case the real experts should have overseen it. Instead of let's the dumbasses do it by themselves how bout you advise them and make sure the whale has best odds? It's also way better than him suffering for a lot longer to reach the same outcome so idk what u even mean
JMD734@reddit
I have been following this story for weeks and watched when they tried to release him on Friday. They were using a rope on his fluke and tried to drag him out!! It ended up getting really rough with the waves and he was getting tossed around a lot. They decided to go further north and I even checked News5 camera at night and they had a thermal camera on the barge and he was there. When I woke up with the news that he swam out on his own made me immediately suspicious of the circumstances, and I was right. No footage of the release and they refused to let anyone on the barge besides one person.
I want to stay optimistic and believe that was Timmy swimming near the barge but I am also thankful that they did attempt to rescue him bring him to the sea where he can pass away in a better location and not in shallow waters. Who knows what they would have done to his carcass after he died. (Which would have been a slow death too!)
Timmy - I hope you are safe and swimming free ❤️
Gramposity@reddit
One should never tow a live whale by the fluke. It does a considerable amount of internal damage. Seeing that just added to the incompetent image this group has been showing. This “rescue” has almost never actually considered the welfare of the animal. I guess that’s what you get when you ignore the advice of people with experience and listen to YouTubers and vets that specialize in pets.
theDamningTruth@reddit
The assholes who just let them do it by themselves are the worst. The proper experts with actual knowledge should have advised instead of put up their hands. Wtf by not wanting to enable they gave the whale least likely odds
Pretty-Toe-1692@reddit
You are thankful that he had the additional stress of the transportation and the rough handling of his fluke, so he can suffocate and drown in a better place? Isn't that lovely...
Esguelha@reddit
I would like to see News5 footage. Do you have a link?
JMD734@reddit
It was their live feed on You Tube, I don't think they recorded the thermal camera feed unfortunately.
Gramposity@reddit
A very good timeline and regular updates (in German) can be found here:
https://www.ln-online.de/lokales/ostholstein/deutsches-meeresmuseum-buckelwal-ist-wahrscheinlich-tot-alle-infos-im-liveticker-7D6CVA64KRAR7BNXN2AI7PFHU4.html
GreenGlassDrgn@reddit
I live in Denmark and im certain we will let you know if he washes up again
Medical_Business_678@reddit
A whale stranded for nearly 40 days, covered in blisters, a fishing net in its mouth, hoisted by the tail, transported by boat, likely left with hearing damage, only to be dumped back into the sea without a plan or proper vet evaluation.
Nothing is as cruel as “animal care".
relaxation_1999@reddit
I'm sure you know better. Posting from the basement of your Mother? :)
Lost_Total2534@reddit
People wanted the whale to die, so they were going to try and make it real. ☕
IzzyBizzzz@reddit
He should’ve been euthanized when he stranded. Very rarely do cetaceans strand for no reason, they typically are already very compromised. Him being on the beach and dragged by his fluke severely worsened his condition. He stood no chance surviving and by refusing to listen to veterinarians his suffering was greatly prolonged. This is just sad.
Bee_1206@reddit
The lack of footage of the release and failure to share tracking data is concerning and stinks of cover up.
Once they undertook the rescue they had a responsibility to do it properly as agreed with the authorities and experts. Some of what I'm reading makes me deeply uncomfortable, answers are needed 🐳
Esguelha@reddit
I honestly don't believe he survived.
I mean, everything was being filmed and then suddenly he's released without any notice and without any video or pictures. Plus this letter.
And then all the info concerning the tag. It all sounds way too sketchy.
Moosochse@reddit
That's exactly what I think. The crew of the ship prohibited filming during the release. Why should they do that? They released him without communication with the rest of the team. Why? Only reason I can think of, the whale was dead or almost dead and they just dropped him.
SnooRobots1169@reddit
I don’t think so.