Timmy the humpback whale escapes to the North Sea 

A humpback whale calf that earned huge media attention and the nickname Timmy after being repeatedly stranded in shallow waters near Germany has been released into the North Sea by rescue team.

The operation to save the sea mammal, launched as its health deteriorated, transported Timmy in a water-filled barge and released him off Denmark on Saturday.

Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the private financiers of the operation, said the whale appeared to be swimming freely and in the right direction upon his release, the APF news agency reports.

He “should now swim up the Norwegian coast toward the Arctic”, she said.

Timmy was first spotted near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3. He repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters, despite efforts to encourage him back to the deeper sea.

Far from his natural habitat of the Atlantic Ocean, the whale became distressed, and the public became invested in his plight as his health deteriorated and experts worried that he would not survive.

Several efforts to rescue him, including using inflatable cushions and a pontoon, were unsuccessful, leading German officials to suggest he was doomed.

A private initiative to save the animal was then approved by Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, but that sparked debate as to whether it would be best to let him die in peace or push him to return home, an ordeal that could have proved too much for him.

Timmy developed a skin condition as a result of the Baltic Sea’s low salt content, and would barely move for days at a time, his breathing irregular.

The International Whaling Commission said in April that with each stranding causing additional harm, “the chances of survival [had become] negligible”.

However, the use of the special barge finally saw Timmy returned to his natural habitat.

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from the Atlantic Ocean. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

A GPS transmitter was reportedly attached to the whale before his release, suggesting there could be more updates to come, with the case having been furiously followed by online media in particular.