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 .<\/p>\n
However, he developed respiratory difficulties during his transfer from the waterway from Paris to the coast and had to be euthanized.<\/p>\n
“Despite an unprecedented beluga rescue operation, we are saddened to announce the cetacean’s death,” the prefect of the Calvados department said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
It had been a risky move from the start, and there was he worries that moving the whale could cause him harm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Conservation specialist Isabelle Brasseur said it “could die now, during the uprising”, but said it was even more “important to try”.<\/p>\n Veterinary examinations after it was transferred revealed that the dangerously thin beluga whale had no digestive activity for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The whale refused all the food<\/strong><\/p>\n It was spotted on the French waterway later Wednesday drifting thousands of miles from his home in the Arctic<\/strong>. It is believed that underwater noise from boats and ships confused the whale.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n However, the the whale refused all the food<\/strong> and there were concerns that he might starve.<\/p>\n There was hope that the animal would survive after him responded to a cocktail of antibiotics and vitamins <\/strong>administered in the last few days and rubbed on the wall of the lock to remove the spots that had appeared on his back.<\/p>\n
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\n Image: Sea Shepherd France<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Image:](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/22\/08\/768x432\/skynews-beluga-whale-france_5859998.jpg?20220810042409\")
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\n Image: Sea Shepherd France<\/span><\/p>\n