The beluga spotted Tuesday morning in the Seine and located Thursday near a lock, about 70 km from Paris, is “thinned” and his state of health is “worrying”, announced the prefecture of Eure.
State services, firefighters, SNSM, French Biodiversity Office (OFB), Cotentin Cetacean Study Group (GEEC) and the Pelagis laboratory were mobilized all day to assess the health status " worrying” of the animal which “seems to present skin alterations and to be emaciated”, specified the prefecture.
Contacted by AFP, Gérard Mauger, vice-president of the GEEC, described a "well-toned animal, which spends very little time on the surface and performs long apneas", a sign that its lung capacity "remains good" but a behavior which complicates the task of the rescuers, the prefecture indicating that the cetacean "flees the boats and does not allow itself to be guided in the direction of the mouth of the Seine".
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The president of the association for the defense of the oceans Sea Shepherd, Lamya Essemlali, told AFP that one of her teams would arrive on the spot in the evening equipped with drones to locate it more easily and that "the emergency is already to feed it to prevent it from suffering the same fate as the killer whale found dead of starvation" in the same river at the end of May.
Call for caution
"The environment is not very welcoming for the beluga, the Seine is very polluted and cetaceans are extremely sensitive to noise, but the Seine is very noisy with its very heavy navigation," added Ms. Essemlali.
In fact, the press release from the prefecture ensures that “the Sea Shepherd France association has proposed (…) to set up rescue and feeding attempts” and that “the prefect of Eure (…) has decided to support and secure these actions, while respecting the animal and its needs”.
The beluga, a protected species of cetacean usually living in cold waters, is "currently between the Poses dam and that of Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne", about 70 km northwest of Paris.
The authorities appeal for caution and ask "the entire population not to attempt to approach or come into contact with the animal to facilitate the work of all State services, mobilized for the preservation of wildlife.