Some 80 specialists have rescued this morning an 800 kilo beluga whale in the Seine river, in which she was lost to some 70 kilometers from Paris, in a delicate operation that lasted more than eight hours.
The animal, accustomed to living in the cold and salty Canadian watershad entered the river, stopped feeding and was in a state of health that caused concern to the authorities, veterinarians and activists, who decided to advance the rescue to prevent him from getting even sicker.
“The beluga has come out of the water after long hours of preparation and effort. Bravo to the teams involved for overcoming this challenge. The first medical tests have been carried out and the results will be known soon.”the organization Sea Shepherd France has indicated this morning on its Twitter account.
The animal, which had been blocked in an area of the river by means of locks last Thursday, was pulled out of the water with a net lifted by a crane, a very stressful moment for the animalaccording to the secretary general of the government delegation of the Eure department in Normandy, Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet.
The person in charge, who explained the conditions of the rescue at a press conference, warned that it was a risky operation for the animal, that after being suspended in a kind of hammock, he will have to be transferred to the sea in a refrigerated vehicle, if the medical tests allow it.
A long and complex operation
“It is a very long operation involving eighty people, a dozen divers, specialists, veterinarians… We have worked a lot,” Dorliat-Pouzet told the cameras, before whom he was optimistic. “We have done the maximum and the best possible.”
The rescue work has cost several thousand euros, according to the person in charge, who referred to the numerous donations from citizens for the operation, such as the truck or the straw that will go inside, which several neighbors offered.
thinner than normal
The animal, a male who despite his 800 kilos he was skinnier than he should be to a cetacean of these characteristics, is being treated by specialists.
If his health permits, he will have to be transferred to Ouistreham, on the Norman coast, where he will remain for three days in a pool of seawater before being released on the high seas and taken out to sea, far from the coast.
Related news
last month of May an orca entered the Seine where she stayed for several days, but died of exhaustion and lack of food before she could be rescued.
Specialists consider several options to explain these phenomena, such as an excess of noise pollution that disorients them or that they are lost due to changes in sea currents due to global warming.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.