The body of a dead whale known as “Timmy” has washed ashore on the island of Anholt in Denmark, where experts hope an autopsy will shed light on how it died.
A News5 reporter’s live feed showed a car slowly dragging the stuffed carcass from the deep water with a rope to shore Saturday morning, leaving behind a deep trench in the sand.
The Danish environmental protection agency urged people not to approach the whale as there is a risk of infection.
The body is expected to be examined on the beach next week. “Because the animal has been lying in the sun for a long time, it will have a bad smell,” said whale researcher Peter Teglberg Madsen, who has been helping with the examination of whale carcasses in Denmark for 25 years. “It will be very difficult if you are not used to it.”
A dead whale has been floating in the water near the holiday island of Anholt for more than two weeks. Initially the authorities abandoned the attempt to pull the whale into deep water so that they could take it to the mainland port. Danish officials have warned the public that the carcass – which is bloated with decomposition gases – is in danger of exploding.
