The text was published on August 10th. updated at 12:40 p.m.
The beluga whale, which got lost in the French Seine for days, died after an initially successful rescue operation. After the salvage from the lock on Wednesday night, it took emergency services around six hours to salvage the animal, which weighed around 800 kilograms, with a crane on Wednesday night. A first examination confirmed the poor condition of the emaciated whale. Veterinarians therefore considered his chances of survival to be low.
Nevertheless, the transport of the whale, which was kept moist with towels, to a seawater basin in Ouistreham, France, started. There the marine mammal should be treated and prepared for the return to the sea. During the journey, however, the animal’s breathing deteriorated noticeably, said the prefecture in Caen. That’s why the whale was euthanized, official veterinarian Ollivet Courtois said. The white whale located in the Seine more than a week ago was to be brought to the Seine for treatment in a refrigerated truck.
The beluga, which had been stranded for a good week, was located in a river lock around 70 kilometers from Paris last Friday. The NGO “Sea Shepherd France” involved shared the initially successful outcome of the rescue operation on Twitter early Wednesday morning.