A dead whale found near the Danish island of Anholt was confirmed on Saturday to be the humpback nicknamed "Timmy," which was stranded off the German coast and taken back out to sea in a high-profile rescue mission.
The identification was made after a previously attached tracker was recovered from the animal, according to the Environment Ministry of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Danish environmental officials.
The finding resolves earlier uncertainty over whether the carcass discovered off the Danish coast late this week was the same animal that had captivated Germany and made headlines worldwide. The stranded male whale was transported by barge to the North Sea and released on May 2.
Divers from Denmark’s Nature Agency and a German veterinarian, who was part of the private initiative that had earlier transported the whale, had examined the whale on Saturday, at times diving beneath the carcass.
That inspection brought clarity after authorities had initially said on Friday that no transmitter had been found on the animal.
Morten Abildstrøm of Denmark's Nature Agency later explained that a tracker attached to the dorsal fin could not have been detected at first because the whale had been lying on its side and was later found on its back.
