Humpback Whale Frees Itself From Second Baltic Stranding in the Bay of Wismar

A humpback whale stranded twice in the Baltic Sea freed itself for the second time late Saturday evening, March 28, 2026, after rising water levels lifted the animal off a sandbank in the Bay of Wismar. Claus Tantzen, spokesperson for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Ministry of the Environment, confirmed the development but cautioned that the danger had not passed. The Bay of Wismar stranding was the whale's second in less than two days, following its initial rescue from a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand in the Bay of Lübeck earlier that week. The water police are now accompanying and monitoring the animal's movements. Experts remain cautious, warning that the shallow coastal waters of the Baltic Sea make a third stranding a real possibility.

Humpback whales are not native to the Baltic Sea, which presents unsuitable conditions for large marine mammals of this species. According to experts cited in the source articles, humpback whales can enter the Baltic by following schools of fish in search of food, or their orientation can be disrupted by underwater noise. The original goal of the rescue operation was to guide the animal toward the strait between Germany and Denmark so it could find its way back to the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Baltic Sea Humpback Whale Stranding — March 2026: — ; — ; — ; —

Excavator channel and days of effort preceded first rescue The whale was first discovered on the morning of Monday, March 23, on a sandbank off Timmendorfer Strand in the Bay of Lübeck. Over several days, numerous rescuers worked to free the animal, ultimately digging a channel with an excavator to give the whale a path back to deeper water. The animal freed itself overnight into Friday, March 27, using that channel, and subsequently swam from the Bay of Lübeck toward Mecklenburg, though it remained close to the coast. On Saturday, March 28, the whale stranded for a second time, this time on a sandbank in the Bay of Wismar. Rescuers and experts decided against launching a new active rescue operation, choosing instead to allow the animal a chance to free itself on its own.

Greenpeace biologist urged leaving the whale alone Thilo Maack, a marine biologist with Greenpeace, explained the decision to hold back from an immediate second rescue effort. He noted that the water around the sandbank in Wismar Bay was significantly deeper than at Timmendorfer Strand, where it had been only about one meter deep, making conditions somewhat more favorable for the whale to free itself. Rescue boats withdrew from the area. „The best thing now is to leave the whale completely alone” — Thilo Maack via N-tv Maack added that how the animal was faring was difficult to assess and depended on the availability of food and how stressed it was. The decision had been coordinated with other actors, including the German Maritime Museum. The strategy proved effective when rising water levels late Saturday evening allowed the whale to leave the sandbank without human intervention.

Minister calls for public to give the whale space Till Backhaus, the Minister for Climate Protection, Agriculture, Rural Areas and the Environment of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and a member of the SPD, appealed to the public during the second stranding. „leave the certainly weakened and stressed animal as much in peace as possible so that its condition does not deteriorate further” — Till Backhaus via ZEIT ONLINE Tantzen, the ministry spokesperson, underlined that the whale's situation remained precarious despite its second self-rescue, citing the very shallow waters along the coastline as a persistent hazard. The water police continued to follow the animal's movements as of early Sunday morning. Why the whale entered the Baltic Sea in the first place remains unclear, with experts pointing to the possibility that it followed fish schools or was disoriented by underwater noise. The original aim of the rescue effort had been to steer the animal toward the strait between Germany and Denmark and ultimately back to the North Sea and the Atlantic, where humpback whales naturally live.