A humpback whale rescued after beaching itself in Germany has been found dead near a Danish island. The whale was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on 23 March, off the island of Poel on Germany's Baltic coast. It swam free in early May after a water-filled barge, the Fortuna B, carried it into the North Sea. The operation was privately funded by two German entrepreneurs and spurred intense public debate, with critics suggesting it would only cause the animal distress. A whale carcass was reportedly spotted on Thursday off the Danish island of Anholt, located between Denmark and Sweden. Authorities were not immediately able to confirm it was the same whale. In a statement, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency said conditions on Saturday made it possible for the whale's identity to be verified, and its tracking device retrieved. The agency told AFP that there are no concrete plans to remove the whale from the area or to perform a necropsy, and it is not currently considered to pose a problem in the area. However, it stressed that people should not approach the whale because it might carry diseases that can be transmitted to humans, and there may also be a risk of explosion due to large volumes of internal gas caused by decomposition. The whale, nicknamed 'Timmy' or 'Hope' by rescuers and German media, had become stranded on Timmendorfer Beach in Lübeck Bay on 23 March. Initially, it managed to free itself but became stuck multiple times. German authorities attempted several rescues before announcing they were giving up. Ultimately, entrepreneurs Karin Walter-Mommert and Walter Gunz funded a private rescue, fitting the whale with a tracking device. Till Backhaus, the environment minister in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, hailed the operation as a success. However, wildlife groups expressed skepticism about the whale's future and warned it had suffered skin damage due to the lack of salinity along the German coast.