France: Stray beluga whale rescued from Seine (video)

STORY: This beluga whale has been keeping the public in France busy for days. Because the marine mammal had gotten lost in the Seine and was becoming increasingly weak in the warm fresh water. The French authorities therefore planned an expensive and risky rescue operation. On Tuesday evening, the Beluga, which was around four meters long and weighed around 800 kilos, was lifted by crane from the fresh water of the Seine locks into a barge. After medical examinations and tests, the animal will later be released on the open sea. For days, the beluga whale was stuck in a lock about 70 kilometers from Paris. It would have been about 130 kilometers back to the river mouth on the English Channel. But that seemed an impossible task for the tired and obviously disoriented animal. Now it is hoped that the marine mammal will survive with human support.