Humpback whale “Timmy” processed into biodiesel in Denmark

The dead 12‑metre humpback whale dubbed “Timmy” washed ashore on the Danish island of Anholt after weeks of stranding along the German Baltic coast. An autopsy confirmed the animal was female, but the cause of death remains unknown. The carcass was hauled to the Danish firm Daka in Randers, where it was separated into three streams. Water was cleaned and returned to the fjord, the thick blubber layer was converted into biodiesel, and the remaining flesh, bones, skin and tendons were turned into a protein‑rich meal used as biomass for a cement plant. Selected bone fragments were sent to the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen for preservation. The whale had been fitted with a tracking tag by a private rescue initiative, and the gathered data are being analysed by German and Danish authorities. The processing marks the first known large‑scale conversion of a whale carcass into bio‑fuel and industrial feedstock.