Following the rescue of "Timmy" in Germany tragically gone wrong, another whale was first sighted in January 2026. Since then, Hartwin has travelled between Norway and the Netherlands before recently entering the Baltic Sea, where he is currently in Danish waters.

Hartwin is affected by a skin condition. However, none of the countries bordering the North Sea currently has a dedicated rescue team or an established protocol for providing medical treatment, including the use of antibiotics where appropriate.

Despite the whale's remarkable journey, several experts have described Hartwin as being in poor health and have expressed concern that his prognosis is grave.

Meanwhile, the conservation organisation STRANDED NO MORE says its ECHO and GWRA systems, developed to help prevent whales from entering the Baltic Sea and to improve responses to similar incidents, have attracted little interest from authorities. The organisation argues that this raises broader questions about the priority given to protecting large whales and their ecological importance.

A humpback whale, stranded in the Baltic Sea, finds itself at the centre of attention in a country completely unprepared for such an event. When the whale unexpectedly refuses to perish, a tug-of-war breaks out among politicians, government authorities, a maritime museum, whale specialists, and a private rescue initiative, amplified by countless voices on social media.