A beluga whale stranded in the Seine river in northern France for more than a week was removed from the water early Wednesday in a risky rescue operation, but officials warned it was in poor health.
After nearly six hours of work by dozens of divers and rescuers, the 800-kilogram (1,800-pound) cetacean was lifted from the river by a net and crane at around 4:00 am (0200 GMT) and placed on a barge under the immediate care of a dozen veterinarians.
The beluga, a protected species usually found in cold Arctic waters, was then given a health check and driven in a refrigerated truck toward the coastal town of Ouistreham.
Upon arrival, the beluga will be installed in a seawater lock where it will be held for observation for several days before being released into the open sea.
But officials in Eure, where the beluga was stranded, said the whale was worryingly thin.
“It bodes, according to veterinarians, for a poor vital prognosis,” the Eure prefecture said in a statement after the rescue operation, which it said was “particularly complex”.
The four-meter (13-foot) whale was spotted more than a week ago heading towards Paris and was stranded about 130 kilometers (81 miles) inland from the Channel at Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne in Normandy.
Since Friday, the animal’s movement inland had been blocked by a lock at Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, 70 kilometers (44 miles) northwest of Paris, and its health deteriorated after it refused to eat.
Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, secretary general of the Eure prefecture, said earlier that medical tests would be carried out before transporting the whale.
“He is a male, that he is very underweight and that he has a few sores,” she said. — AFP
