“Given the deterioration of her condition, they have decided to sacrifice her”

Sad end to the story of the 800 kilo beluga whale rescued in the Seine River 70 kilometers from Paris. The NGO responsible for her rescue, Sea Shepherd France, has reported her death: “It is with great sadness that we announce that the beluga has not survived the transfer, which was risky, but essential to give an otherwise doomed animal a chance. Given his deteriorating condition, the vets have made the decision to put him down.”

The whale was very far from its natural habitat, which is arctic or subarctic waters, and also showed signs of malnutrition, which precipitated the rescue attempt, which consisted of extracting it from the waters of the Seine to transfer it to salt water, near the sea, explained Sea Shepard. The operation would take several hours, dozens of volunteers, heavy machinery and a great risk for the cetacean. France has followed it with great expectation.

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“We are devastated by this tragic outcome that we knew was very likely, but we thank everyone who has worked on this unprecedented mobilization,” Sea Shepard tweeted.

Ollivet Courtois, firefighters’ veterinarian, explained that “the animal’s suffering was evident” and that “it suffered from breathing difficulties” aggravated to the point of making euthanasia inevitable.

The rescue operation

This whale, accustomed to living in the cold and salty Canadian waters, had accidentally ended up in the Seine and was to be transferred to Ouistreham, on the Norman coastwhere it was to remain in a seawater pond for three days before being released into the high seas.

The animal had stopped feeding days ago and was in a state of health that concerned authorities, veterinarians and activists, who chose to carry out a rescue that involved 80 specialists for eight hours.

It was about a male who despite his 800 kilos was thinner than he should be to a cetacean of these characteristics. It had been blocked in an area of ​​the Seine River by locks last Thursday and extracted this morning from the water with a net lifted by a crane, a very stressful moment for the animal.

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The rescue work has cost several thousand euros, gathered thanks to numerous donations from citizens. Neighbors also provided the truck or the straw inside.

In May, an orca entered the Seine, where it spent several days, but died of exhaustion and lack of food before it could be rescued.

Specialists consider various 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.