Humpback Whale Carcass Found Dead Off Danish Island of Anholt

The carcass of a humpback whale was dragged onto a beach on the island of Anholt, Denmark, on Saturday after two weeks in shallow waters off the island. The whale was found dead on May 14, stranded just off Anholt in the Kattegat, the broad strait between Denmark and Sweden that connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea. It had first been spotted off the German coast on March 3.

German media outlets sent push alerts and updated live blogs with the status of the whale’s health since March 3. The whale gained the nicknames “Timmy” and “Hope” from German media. A final rescue effort transported the whale toward the North Sea in a barge on May 2.

The whale was photographed lying in a washed-out tub off the island of Poel, Germany, on April 22, 2026, and being transported in a flooded cargo ship just before the Danish border in Fehmarn, Germany, on April 29, 2026. The carcass will be examined next week to determine the cause of death, according to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

Danish news outlet News5 published a livestream on Saturday of the carcass being dragged onto the shoreline by a cable attached to a truck on the beach.

The Baltic Sea is far from the whale’s natural habitat in the Atlantic Ocean and it was not suited to it. It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, although some experts said it may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.