Overview
- A roughly seven‑metre whale carcass was reported and later confirmed dead by a Deutsches Meeresmuseum staff member after being seen drifting in the Greifswalder Bodden on Thursday.
- Regional response teams including the Wasserschutzpolizei and the Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsamt moved to the scene and arranged to tow the carcass to the Nautineum on Dänholm for a forensic autopsy.
- Officials have not yet confirmed the species or whether the animal is the same individual seen in multiple recent sightings off German and Polish coasts.
- Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern Environment Minister Till Backhaus said this is the second humpback death in the region within a year and called the autopsy a priority for understanding why Atlantic humpbacks enter the Baltic Sea.
- Scientists say recovering Atlantic humpback numbers may increase rare ‘vagrant’ entries into the Baltic, and the planned dissection could reveal causes such as disease, starvation, injury, or human interaction and guide future rescue and prevention measures.