Humpback whale stranded in Germany set free

Frankfurt: A humpback whale that had been struggling to survive after beaching off the German coast was released into the North Sea off Denmark after being transported in a barge, Germany's News5 agency said.
Dubbed 'Timmy' by the German media, the whale was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on March 23 near the city of Luebeck before freeing itself and then becoming stuck again several times.
A ship convoy transporting a humpback whale stranded for weeks off Germany's Baltic Sea coast was sailing through the Skagerrak, part of the North Sea, shortly before sunset on Friday. 
By evening, the barge carrying the whale and an escort vessel were north of Denmark's northernmost tip, heading towards Norway. 
The animal is to be released at an undisclosed location in the North Sea. The convoy had been forced to change course immediately at the transition between the Baltic and the North Seas because of high waves, briefly turning back south. The barrier net on the barge was removed during this period, but the whale was not released. In the afternoon, conditions allowed for the northward route to be resumed. Members of the private initiative responsible for the transport repeated at midday that every kilometre towards the North Sea counted. The roughly 12-metre-long humpback whale had been lying for four weeks off the island of Poel near the German town of Wismar. Against the advice of many scientists, specialist institutions, and animal welfare organizations, the private initiative has been trying since mid-April to salvage the whale to bring it alive to the North Sea or the Atlantic.