A beluga whale that strayed into France’s Seine River has been euthanized, according to French authorities.
An operation to move the animal, which had been stuck since last fridayit started early this morning.
A team of about 24 experts and many other volunteers used a crane and nets to load the whale into a refrigerated truck on a 99-mile (160-kilometer) journey to the port city of Ouistreham in northeastern France .
However, he developed respiratory difficulties during his transfer from the waterway from Paris to the coast and had to be euthanized.
“Despite an unprecedented beluga rescue operation, we are saddened to announce the cetacean’s death,” the prefect of the Calvados department said on Twitter.
It had been a risky move from the start, and there was he worries that moving the whale could cause him harm.
Conservation specialist Isabelle Brasseur said it “could die now, during the uprising”, but said it was even more “important to try”.
Veterinary examinations after it was transferred revealed that the dangerously thin beluga whale had no digestive activity for unknown reasons.
Since the whale drifted into a saltwater basin in the Normandy region, efforts had been made to free it, amid fears about its rapidly declining health.
Image:
Image: Sea Shepherd France
The whale refused all the food
It was spotted on the French waterway later Wednesday drifting thousands of miles from his home in the Arctic. It is believed that underwater noise from boats and ships confused the whale.
But the beluga swam away from boats trying to guide it to the river’s mouth, between the seaports of Le Havre and Honfleur, and was eventually trapped.
A team of veterinarians hoped to re-stimulate the whale’s digestive system and encourage it to eat. Conservationists had tried unsuccessfully to feed it fish since it was first found last week.
However, the the whale refused all the food and there were concerns that he might starve.
Image:
Image: Sea Shepherd France
There was hope that the animal would survive after him responded to a cocktail of antibiotics and vitamins administered in the last few days and rubbed on the wall of the lock to remove the spots that had appeared on his back.
In May of last year a minke whale had to be euthanized after it became stranded in the River Thames.