The rescue of a lost beluga whale in the Seine River, in northwestern France, was useless and the cetacean was euthanized due to the serious state of health it showed after being transported by truck to the sea coast.
An operational complex had managed to extract the lost cetacean from the water early Wednesday morning, far from its natural habitat in the Arctic, in the first step of a complicated mission to return it to the sea.
It took the 24 divers and other rescuers involved in the operation six hours to net the beluga in a lock, initially transfer it to a saltwater barge, and then truck it out to the ocean.
“Despite an unprecedented rescue operation for the beluga, we are saddened to announce the death of the cetacean,” the prefecture of Calvados (Normandy, northern France) reported on Twitter, specifying that the animal was euthanized.
The beluga, weighing about 800 kilos, which was no longer eating and was in an “alarming” state, had been hoisted in the net with a crane and placed on the barge, where it was immediately attended by a dozen veterinarians.
For several minutes, the imposing cetacean was found suspended in the air, waving its white body four meters above the heads of the rescuers.
The animal was immediately transferred to a refrigerated truck and transported to the coastal town of Ouistreham, in the north, but before arriving the experts decided to sacrifice it.
“Unfortunately, the condition of the cetacean deteriorated during the trip,” explained the prefecture, which indicated that the animal had poor respiratory activity.
“The collegiate decision was then made, with the veterinarians, to euthanize him,” he added.
– “His suffering was evident” –
Conservation organization Sea Shepherd, which assisted French authorities during the operation, said “the rescue operation was risky, but essential to give an otherwise doomed animal a chance.”
But “after the deterioration of his condition, the veterinarians made the decision to euthanize him,” the NGO said on its Twitter account.
The rescue services veterinarian Florence Ollivet-Courtois explained that the animal was not receiving enough air and “its suffering was evident”.
The beluga was held since Friday in a lock located 70 km northwest of Paris and about 130 kilometers from the mouth of the Seine, where it had been detected on August 2.
How it got there is unknown, since belugas live in the cold waters of the Arctic and although they descend south in autumn, they never venture that far.
The beluga’s plight generated great interest inside and outside France, and several foundations, associations and individuals made donations to help save it.
In May, an orca was found trapped in the Seine. Operations to save her failed and the animal starved to death.
According to the Pelagis Observatory, which specializes in marine mammals, the closest beluga population is found off the Svalbard archipelago, in northern Norway, about 3,000 kilometers from the Seine.
It is, according to that institution, the second beluga reported in France. The first had reached the Loire River, in a fisherman’s nets, in 1948.
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