Whale stranded off Germany for days found stuck again

A humpback whale that was freed after becoming stuck for several days in shallow water at a Baltic Sea resort in Germany has become stranded again after failing to find its way back to the Atlantic Ocean.

The complicated and delicate efforts to rescue the 12-15 metre whale off a sandbank at Timmendorfer Strand beach earlier this week captivated Germans - with media sending news alerts of updates on its progress and streaming live video from the scene.

The whale became a popular topic of conversation across the country, with people exchanging text messages about the rescue efforts.

An excavator was used on Thursday to dig an escape channel after earlier unsuccessful efforts to coax the whale back toward deeper water, including using coast guard and fire department boats to create large waves.

It finally swam through the man-made channel early on Friday, and rescuers lost track of it until it was spotted the following day, further east near the coastal town of Wismar, in the state of Mecklenburg-Pomerania.

Greenpeace confirmed on Saturday that the mammal had become stranded again.

A spokesperson for Mecklenburg-Pomerania's environment ministry told the DPA news agency that "after managing to free itself from its plight, the whale was spotted again at noon today in Wismar Bay.

Thilo Maack, a marine biologist with Greenpeace, told DPA that there were no plans to launch another rescue operation on Saturday.

"We want to give the whale the chance to free itself," he said.

State Environment Minister Till Backhaus said that experts would attempt "to gently nudge" the whale and "guide it towards deeper water" on Sunday if the animal has not managed to swim free by then.

Backhaus noted that there was a deeper channel close to the whale, which might allow it to free itself.

"The whale is still showing signs of trying to swim away," said Maack, after observing the stranded animal from a dinghy earlier on Saturday.

"We therefore hope that it will free itself."

"The best thing now is to leave the whale completely alone."

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea.

Some experts pondered that the animal may have lost its way when it swam after a shoal of herring while another theory is that the whale is likely a male, as males tend to migrate.

The marine mammal cannot survive in the Baltic Sea long-term.

Among other issues, the salt concentration of the water is not high enough and the creature has already developed a skin disease, local media reported.

It also would not be able to find the right kind of nutrition it needs.

If it is to survive it will need to return to the Atlantic Ocean, which is a journey of several hundred kilometres through German and Danish waters.

with DPA