Timmy, a humpback whale that garnered international attention for repeated strandings in the Baltic Sea, has died two weeks after a privately funded rescue effort released it into Danish waters on May 2. Marine mammal scientists had recommended euthanasia for the whale, which was found on a German beach in March and stranded multiple times in April, likely suffering from entanglement and parasites. Despite these recommendations, a regional government authorized a rescue, which involved floating Timmy onto a barge and towing it offshore. The incident highlights a conflict between human empathy for distressed animals and the scientific assessment of survival probabilities, particularly for large whales whose size makes rescue difficult and dangerous, and whose physiological needs make prolonged time out of water acutely harmful. Researchers will examine the factors influencing the rescue decision and its outcomes to inform future stranding responses.