The killer whale in difficulty in the Seine between Rouen and Le Havre will be euthanized, the Seine-Maritime prefecture said on Sunday, announcing that operations to guide the animal to the sea using sound stimuli have failed. “The working group of experts has unanimously concluded that the only possible solution is to euthanize the animal”, indicates the prefecture in a press release, specifying that the services of the State “are preparing the modalities of this intervention “.
Started on Saturday, the operation to help the killer whale find its way back to the sea, its natural environment, “highlighted a lack of alertness, inconsistent reactions to sound stimuli and erratic and disoriented behavior of the killer whale” with “back and forth from one side of the bank to the other”.
“The sound recordings also revealed vocalizations similar to cries of distress”, specifies the prefecture. “Attempts to bring the orca back to the sea having failed, and in order not to further aggravate his level of stress, the decision was taken to interrupt the intervention at the beginning of the evening”, adds the prefecture.
“critical state of health of the animal”
After analysis, images collected on Saturday “lead to the observation of a critical state of health of the animal with deep ulcerations and dermatitis, revealing necrotic lesions”. According to the findings of these experts, these suggest that “the animal suffers from mucormycosis”, an emerging disease observed in marine mammals.
“It is a condition (…) likely to affect immunocompromised animals” and the experts confirmed that the disease has reached “a very advanced stage, to the point that it would cause significant suffering to the animal. animal “.
The animal already weakened when it first appeared
If “the risk of transmission from the animal to humans is very limited”, the prefecture recalls that “the area in which the killer whale is found is prohibited for swimming, fishing and that the catchment areas of water are not fed or impacted by the Seine”.
The operation had received the support of the NGO Sea Shepherd, of which “three boats” had arrived in Seine-Maritime on Saturday evening.
The orca was first sighted on May 16 between Honfleur and Le Havre, near the Pont de Normandie. The animal had probably arrived “already weakened” towards the Seine estuary, indicated Gérard Mauger, vice-president of the GECC, an association based in Cherbourg commissioned by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) for the study and the preservation of marine mammals in the Channel.