Dead whale found in Greifswalder Bodden, second Baltic whale death within a year

Discovery and confirmation

At 08:16 on Thursday, 13 August, the water police (Wasserschutzpolizei) received a report of a lifeless whale drifting in the Greifswalder Bodden, off the southern tip of the island of Rügen. An expert from the German Oceanographic Museum (Deutsches Meeresmuseum) in Stralsund subsequently confirmed the animal's death. The whale measures approximately seven meters in length, though the species has not yet been formally identified, a museum spokeswoman said. Staff from the water police and the Federal Waterways and Shipping Office for the Baltic deployed multiple vessels to secure the area and maintain shipping safety.

Planned autopsy on Dänholm

The dead whale is to be towed by ship to the small island of Dänholm, where it will be autopsied at the Nautineum, an outpost of the German Oceanographic Museum. The autopsy is planned for Friday, 14 August. Environment Minister Till Backhaus (SPD) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern said he hopes the examination will reveal what causes these non-native animals to die in local waters and why they enter the Baltic at all, given that the low-salinity environment is largely hostile to large whales.

Minister's reaction

Backhaus thanked the water police, the shipping office, and the museum for their response, but expressed sorrow at the recurrence.

Nevertheless, it saddens me that we now have to record the death of a humpback whale in the Baltic Sea for the second time within a year, this time directly in the territorial waters of the state.

He noted that the humpback whale population in the Atlantic has recovered well in recent years. More animals, he said, apparently means more individuals straying into the Baltic Sea. To prevent future strandings, he said it is essential to learn more about the species.

Earlier sightings along the coast

In the weeks before the discovery, a whale had been repeatedly sighted along the Baltic coast, moving progressively eastward: first near Kiel, then in the harbor basin of Wismar, then off the Baltic resort of Wustrow, and most recently on the previous Saturday near the Polish resort of Międzyzdroje. WWF Poland examined the animal near Międzyzdroje using a patrol boat and found it swimming freely, not entangled in fishing nets. The Polish environmental authority measured it at more than six meters. A boat from the Polish water rescue service WOPR subsequently escorted the whale eastward toward the coastal village of Wisełka.

Whether the whale that has now surfaced in the Greifswalder Bodden is the same specimen, we do not know.

A WWF Poland spokesperson said after the Polish sighting that it was a whale but they could not say which species it was or whether it was the same individual sighted in Germany. Whether the dead whale in the Greifswalder Bodden is the same animal remains unclear. The museum spokeswoman suggested that identification might be possible once the animal is removed from the water and its back can be examined, as photos from the earlier sightings show the whale's back.

Previous case: humpback whale "Timmy"

In spring 2026, a humpback whale nicknamed "Timmy" stranded multiple times along the German Baltic coast. The animal was transported to the North Sea in a controversial, elaborate operation, but was found dead a few days later off the Danish island of Anholt. Backhaus referred to the current case as the second humpback whale death in the Baltic within a year, though the museum has not yet confirmed the species of the newly found animal.