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Whale That Was Rescued After Stranded in Germany Found Dead in Denmark

A rescue team is seen close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, on April 27, 2026. (AFP)
A rescue team is seen close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, on April 27, 2026. (AFP)
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Whale That Was Rescued After Stranded in Germany Found Dead in Denmark

A rescue team is seen close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, on April 27, 2026. (AFP)
A rescue team is seen close to a stranded humpback whale in the Wismarer Bucht bay of the Baltic Sea off the island of Poel, northern Germany, on April 27, 2026. (AFP)

A humpback whale that underwent a rescue operation in Germany two weeks ago after beaching itself there has been found dead near a Danish island, officials said Saturday.

"It can now be confirmed that the stranded humpback whale near Anholt is the same whale that was previously stranded in Germany and was the subject of rescue attempts," Jane Hansen, division head at the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement to AFP.

The whale, dubbed "Timmy" in Germany's media, was initially spotted stuck on sandbank on March 23. After various failed attempts it was finally put in a barge and released into the North Sea off Denmark on May 2.

The whale carcass was first spotted off the coast of the Danish island Anholt in the Kattegatt sea between Sweden and Denmark on Thursday but authorities were at first not able to confirm it was the same whale.

"Conditions today made it possible for a local employee from the Danish Nature Agency to locate and retrieve an attached tracking device that was still fastened to the whale's back. The position and appearance of the device confirm that this is the same whale that had previously been observed and handled in German waters," Hansen said.

Hansen added that "at this time, 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."

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency said that while it understood "the considerable public interest in this particular whale," it stressed that people should keep a safe distance and refrain from approaching the whale.

"This is because the whale may carry diseases that can also be transmitted to humans, and there may also be a risk of explosion," as decomposition creates large volumes of gases, it said.

In Germany, the whale was first seen on the sandbank near the city of Luebeck, on Germany's Baltic Sea coast, before freeing itself but then becoming stuck again several times.

Various attempts to save it failed, and authorities had announced they were giving up. But then two wealthy entrepreneurs, Karin Walter-Mommert and Walter Gunz, stepped in to finance the rescue, whose cost was estimated at 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million).

They came up with what many saw as a long-shot plan: coax the whale into the water-filled hold of a special barge and tow it back to its natural habitat.

Some experts at the time criticized the privately financed rescue plan, saying it would only cause the animal more distress.

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Varieties

Russia Unblocks Roblox after Widespread Child Anger

People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
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Russia Unblocks Roblox after Widespread Child Anger

People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV
People rest outside the Kremlin on a warm summer day in downtown Moscow, Russia, 05 June 2026. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

Russia has lifted its ban on the popular gaming platform Roblox, after tens of thousands of children and parents sent letters complaining about the measure.

The platform -- which allows users to build their own games and share them with others -- was among Russia's most popular mobile games, tying third with TikTok in usage time among children in early 2025, according to Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-based global cybersecurity firm.

In a statement published Wednesday, Russia's digital ministry said Roblox had successfully implemented measures to "protect children, including by launching a mechanism to restrict access to games by age group.”

"Roblox has also committed to continuing to combat the spread of undesirable content on the platform," the statement added.

Russia banned access to the US-owned platform last December, accusing it of distributing extremist materials and promoting "LGBT propaganda.”

A Roblox spokesperson told AFP at the time that the company was committed to safety and respected "local laws and regulations.”

Ekaterina Mizulina, the head of Russia's state-sponsored internet censorship watchdog, said in December she had received "63,000 emails" from disgruntled schoolchildren and parents commenting on the ban.

"This raises a question. Perhaps it's time to look for other ways to combat pedophiles and provocateurs who target children online?" she said.

Around 100 million people use Roblox daily, with under-13s accounting for around 40 percent of its 2024 users, according to the company.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Roblox's unblocking in Russia "shows that all services can return if they comply with the law,” in comments to the state TASS news agency.

Varieties

Moose Put Down after Wandering Into Central Oslo

People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
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Moose Put Down after Wandering Into Central Oslo

People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)
People and personell from the wildlife board mill around a dead moose that had strayed into Majorstuen,a inner city area in Oslo, Norway on, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Javad Parsa / NTB / AFP)

Norwegian police said Thursday that a moose that had wandered into downtown Oslo, drawing curious crowds, had been shot and killed.

Videos taken by witnesses and published by Norwegian media show the disoriented animal galloping through the streets of the Norwegian capital, weaving around cars and pedestrians.

"For animal welfare reasons, the moose was put down" by the wildlife authorities, AFP quoted the police as saying.

Although such incidents remain rare -- moose tend to avoid metropolitan areas -- this is the second such incident recorded in two days in Scandinavia.

On Tuesday, a young moose was put down in Sweden after it strayed into the streets of Stockholm.

Varieties

WWI Soldier's Postcard from Home Helps Unite his Family after a Century

A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
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WWI Soldier's Postcard from Home Helps Unite his Family after a Century

A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
A poppy wreath and a photo next to the grave of Private Thomas Redvers Whitaker during a burial ceremony for six British soldiers of World War I, at the CWGC's Tyne Cot Cemetery in Zonnebeke, Belgium, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

A postcard belonging to a World War I soldier whose body was found with five comrades during an excavation has helped reunite distant descendants more than a century after his death on the Western Front.

Dozens of mourners attended a memorial service in western Belgium on Wednesday during which six new white marble headstones were dedicated to the British soldiers whose remains were recently identified through the use of archival research and DNA analysis, The Associated Press reported.

The six burials at the Tyne Cot Cemetery included that of Pvt. Thomas Whitaker, who died in the trenches carrying a postcard from Bradford, in north east England, where some of his relations still live.

At the ceremony were three members of the Whitaker family. Under sunshine piercing the gray drizzle, Joe Whitaker, 22, read aloud a poem written in honor of his great-great-uncle: “At peace in foreign hills, he finally drifts away to sleep, his mind on Bradford mills.”

The soldier's postcard proved to be a crucial piece of evidence that helped British government researchers establish his identity and ultimately linked Joe's family with another, estranged, branch of the Whitaker family.

Joe said: “The thought that (Thomas) might have been thinking of home, comforted by this postcard that he kept on him from Bradford — we were all quite taken aback by that.”

He said writing a poem “felt like the right thing to do.”

Alexia Clark, a commemorations case worker at the UK Ministry of Defense’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), said the six soldiers were found during an excavation in western Belgium. But the discovery of the postcard on one of them proved to be a crucial “hint.”

She added: “And then actually when we looked at the missing list and went, ‘Oh we have got one from Bradford! Great, there’s a strong chance that he is going to be one of them.‘”

By matching the postcard with other found artifacts, including a Lewis Gun and uniforms, the JCCC researchers — known as “the war detectives” -- were able to zero in on a likely group of men from the more than half a million British soldiers still missing from World War I.

The team contacted potential relatives for DNA samples, and the analysis confirmed the identity not only of Thomas Whitaker, but also privates Horace Frederick Cook, Frederick Martin, Charles Richard Russels, Courtney Darvill Hart and Joseph Turnley -- all members of 2/4 Battalion Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment.

Paul Turnley was presented with a British flag folded into a triangle given by the military in honor of the sacrifice of his relation, Pvt. Joseph Turnley.

“Just a privileged to be laying a relative of ours to rest, to watch, to be present and then to be passed the flag... it was the greatest treasure actually,” said Paul, in tribute to his grandfather’s cousin.

As nearby cows, students and bike riders watched along an adjacent farm road, a military musician played a martial lament on a cornet, while prayers were said by the Rev. Adéle Rees.

Then Pvt. Jone Wainile of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment honor guard read the poignant Kohima Epitaph: “When you go home tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’”

Paul Whitaker said: “My children, my grandchildren, anyone, can come and know where Thomas is, and that is a lovely thing to have. It’s just a real privilege to have Thomas be one of the ones that has been found.”