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A whale stranded at a Baltic Sea resort has swum off a sandbank. But it isn’t safe yet

BERLIN (AP) — A whale that was stranded for days in shallow water at a Baltic Sea resort in Germany has swum free from a sandbank overnight after a last-ditch rescue effort. But it isn’t out of danger yet.

An excavator spent Thursday digging an escape channel. The whale then swam through it overnight, marine biologist Robert Marc Lehmann said Friday, German news agency dpa reported.

But he cautioned that it was only a small step in the right direction for the marine mammal, which is 12-15 meters (39-49 feet) long, and that it will only really be at home again if it reaches the Atlantic Ocean.

The whale was spotted stuck on an underwater sandbank in Timmendorfer Strand, a popular resort town, on Monday morning. Initial efforts to free it and coax it back toward deeper water, including using coast guard and fire department boats to create large waves, were unsuccessful. The Baltic Sea lacks strong tides that could have freed the whale.

On Thursday morning, rescuers brought in excavators to dig a trench in front of the whale’s head, while Lehmann approached the animal and guided the digging. They worked until well after sunset, but hadn’t quite been able to get the whale out by the time they had to stop work for the night.

Early on Friday morning, the whale was on its way out of Lübeck Bay, where Timmendorfer Strand is located, said Stephanie Gross of the Institute of Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research. She said the massive mammal, which was about 300 meters (nearly 1,000 feet) off the coast, was being accompanied by a coast guard ship and several boats.

Experts assume that the whale is a young male, as males, unlike females, tend to migrate. It also appeared to be the same whale that was spotted several times in the port of Wismar, east of Timmendorfer Strand, in recent weeks.

It was not immediately clear why the whale was in the area and got stranded.

Humpback whales aren’t native to the Baltic. This one faces a journey of several hundred kilometers (miles) through German and Danish waters if it is to reach the North Sea.

Buffalo named Donald Trump for his golden locks is a sensation at a Bangladesh zoo

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — With his shock of golden hair and trim 700-kilogram (1,500-pound) build, Donald Trump has been drawing crowds from across Bangladesh since he arrived at the national zoo last week. The rare albino buffalo became a sensation when a farmer noticed that his blond tuft of hair resembled the distinctive locks of the U.S. president. After a video of the pale horned mammal went viral on social media, large numbers of people started showing up at the farm outside Dhaka to see him for themselves. The animal was originally meant to be slaughtered for the Muslim festival of sacrifice. But citing security concerns, the government ordered him transferred to the zoo in the capital, where large crowds are now braving sweltering heat to see him. On Tuesday, visitors pressed against the fence of the buffalo's enclosure, filming with their phones as some fathers hoisted small children on their shoulders for a better view.
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