Rescue operation failed: stray beluga whale is dead

The beluga whale, who got lost in the Seine near Paris, is dead. A few hours after he was freed from a lock, his condition had deteriorated sharply. Doctors euthanized the animal.

The beluga whale stuck in a Seine lock in France for days has died despite a rescue operation. After its rescue, the animal’s breathing deteriorated noticeably during transport to a seawater pool, the prefecture in Caen said. That’s why the whale was euthanized, official veterinarian Ollivet Courtois said.

Only last night, the four meter long and 800 kilogram male whale was pulled out of a lock by crane in a six-hour rescue operation. He was then placed on a barge, where numerous veterinarians immediately attended to him. However, they had only given him a slim chance of survival.

The secretary-general of the Eure prefecture, Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, said being transported in a refrigerated truck to the seawater basin in the Channel town of Ouistreham could cause stress in the animal, which could lead to death. The whale is “very underweight” and has “some injuries”. According to the marine conservation organization Sea Shepherd, the beluga suffered from severe digestive problems. That also explains why he didn’t eat anymore. Several attempts to feed the emaciated and weakened animal had previously been unsuccessful.

Belugas native to arctic waters

The beluga was first sighted in the Seine on Tuesday last week and has been stuck in a lock in Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne since Friday, around 70 kilometers from Paris – 130 kilometers from the Seine estuary on the English Channel. Beluga whales typically live in arctic waters off the coasts of Russia, Alaska, and Canada.

This is only the second time a beluga whale has strayed to France. A fisherman first spotted such an animal in his nets in 1948 in the Loire estuary.