Spotted Tuesday in the Seine, the four-meter beluga, whose health is deteriorating day by day, is not yet condemned.
Thus, the head of the ocean defense NGO Sea Shepherd, Lamya Essemlali, ruled out the hypothesis of euthanasia.
"The option of euthanasia has been ruled out for the moment because at this stage it would be premature because he still has vigor, a curious behavior: he turns his head, he reacts to stimuli, he does not is not amorphous and moribund.
»
Beluga in the Seine
The animal still does not eat despite the appetite stimulators used by veterinarians.
Although very thin, he is alert and dynamic.
Euthanasia is therefore ruled out at this stage and repatriation at sea is under consideration.
pic.twitter.com/DtNEMF2UCd
— Sea Shepherd France (@SeaShepherdFran) August 7, 2022
Following a meeting with the prefecture, the French Biodiversity Office, Pelagis and a Canadian cetacean expert, Ms. Essemlali also gave more details on the cetacean's situation: "His lack of appetite is surely a symptom of something else, an origin that we do not know, a disease.
He is undernourished and it is several weeks, even several months.
At sea, he no longer ate.
»
“Little hope” of saving him
The head of the NGO also spoke about the chances of saving the animal, which has been in a lock with a dimension of approximately 125 m by 25 m at 70 km northwest of Paris since Friday. .
Thus, she confided that the experts and the authorities found themselves faced with "a challenge", where there is "little hope".
“We are all dubious about its ability to reach the sea by its own means.
Even if we
drove
it with a boat, it would be extremely perilous, if not impossible,” she said.
Another hypothesis would be to extract it from the water and "take it to the sea to feed it and provide it with additional vitamins, to do a biopsy to have information on its origin and information on its state of health and what that makes him sick,” she said.
Getting out of the lock, a question of survival
In any case, it does not seem possible to leave it in the lock where the water is stagnant and hot.
"He must be out in the next 24-48 hours, these are not optimal conditions for him," explained the Sea Shepherd manager.
