Poel

The goal of all measures is to ensure the animal has a low-disturbance return path to deeper waters and to prevent strandings or other threats to the animal.

— Schweriner Umweltministerium

It was always a matter of weighing which option was the worst: waiting for the animal's certain death in pain, or giving it one last chance and exposing it to potential stress.

— Till Backhaus (SPD), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's State Environment Minister, commenting on the private Timmy whale rescue attempt

The animal answers to its name and has no self; it is enclosed within itself and yet exposed.

— Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, Frankfurt School philosophers; quoted in the article in the context of their views on the nature of animals

A rescue can only be spoken of once the whale is back in the North Atlantic and has survived there long-term; its skin has fully recovered; it is once again able to forage for food on its own and gaining weight; and it is behaving according to its natural behavior.

— Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC) stated in a release regarding rescue criteria that a true rescue is only meaningful once the whale is back in the North Atlantic, survives long-term there, its skin has fully recovered, it can forage on its own and gain weight, and it is behaving according to its natural tendencies.

And now it's all gone off the rails.

— Walter Gunz, co-founder of MediaMarkt and one of the financiers of the rescue effort, told dpa (the German press agency)

He had his chance. We are standing before Easter. Then you are in God's hands. And what happened to Jesus, we know too.

— Till Backhaus, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Environment Minister, said in the first act of the drama