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A humpback whale struggling in shallow waters off Germany’s northern Baltic Sea coast has become stranded for a third time, experts said on Sunday, just hours after the animal had freed itself from a sandbank.<\/p>\n
The 13.5-metre (44-foot) long mammal was first spotted in the early hours of Monday on a sandbank near the city of Luebeck. It managed to free itself on Friday after a mechanical digger set up an escape route.<\/p>\n
However, it has run into fresh difficulty after swimming further east.<\/p>\n
After escaping a second sandbank late Saturday near Wismar, it was stranded once again on Sunday.<\/p>\n
“The prognosis as a whole doesn’t look good,” marine scientist Burkard Baschek told reporters on Sunday after conducting an assessment at the scene.<\/p>\n
Scientists say the whale’s breathing frequency has reduced and that it is no longer exhibiting reactions to nearby vessels.<\/p>\n
For the moment no further rescue actions are planned but the government of the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania say there are also no plans to euthanise the whale.<\/p>\n
Experts still held out some hope that the animal may free itself again after gathering enough strength.<\/p>\n
However Baschek warned that its health had “considerably deteriorated” and that the risk of it becoming stranded yet again was high.<\/p>\n
Experts had hoped the whale would return to its natural habitat in the Atlantic through the North Sea.<\/p>\n
Humpbacks are rarely seen in the Baltic and the experts said it may have been following a shoal of fish or been distracted by the noise of a submarine.<\/p>\n
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