The missing beluga in the Seine is dead

The fate of the beluga lost in the Seine has attracted great interest around the world. On Wednesday, efforts to save the animal’s life appeared to have failed.

“Despite the unprecedented rescue efforts, it is with great sadness that we announce that the whale is dead,” wrote the authorities in Calvados in Normandy. Twitter.

They said in a Twitter video that the Beluga should be killed while being taken to a seawater pond where he was to be taken care of.

raised from the river

Late Tuesday evening, the 800-kilogram whale was pulled out of the river using nets and a crane after about six hours of rescue work. The whale, which had stopped eating at that time, was put on a boat where it was cared for by veterinarians.

During the rescue, the whale began to have difficulty breathing, and experts considered the best course of action to be euthanasia.

– The vets confirmed during the trip that his condition worsened, especially his breathing, and at the same time they noticed that the animal was in pain, says Florence Oliva Courtois, a wildlife expert.

Great rescue effort

Divers, vets and about 40 firefighters were part of the roughly 80-strong task force led by the Sea Shepherd organization.

The rescue effort was described as a battle against the clock: the whale was at risk of dying from the effort, while at the same time at risk of dying from the warm water in the river.

“We can see that it’s a male whale, it’s very underweight and has some wounds,” Isabelle Dorlet-Bouzet, representative of the French department of Eure in Normandy, said at a news conference right after the operation.

A beluga whale was spotted in the Seine last week and has since made its way to a lock 70 kilometers from Paris. Beluga whales are commonly found in Arctic waters off the coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia.