The operation will probably be nothing out of the ordinary.
The extraction of the beluga, lost in the Seine 70 kilometers from Paris for a week and whose state of health seemed stable on Tuesday, promises to be "out of the ordinary", a member of the Marineland team from Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), arrived on site Monday evening.
The scenario of the operation is in place: “This morning, we have something that holds up.
We will present this plan to the people who will help us and we will refine it” during these exchanges, indicated Isabelle Brasseur, one of the members of the Marineland team.
A meeting on the subject was to be held at the end of the morning with the prefecture, another source who requested anonymity told AFP.
“What is out of the ordinary is the place,” noted Isabelle Brasseur.
The banks of the Seine "are not accessible to vehicles" at this location, and "everything must be transported by hand", she specified, without revealing the precise place where the beluga would be taken.
"We have to get him out of there"
For the specialist, “the priority is to put it back in seawater”.
The animal should be deposited for a few days in a seawater lock, the time to be cared for, before being taken offshore to be released.
“In any case, we have to get him out of there (…).
You have to try to understand what he has, ”added Isabelle Brasseur, about the animal, currently held in a lock on the Seine in Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne (Eure), more than 130 km from the sea. “There may be internal degradations that cannot be seen”, although these are “extremely resistant” cetaceans, she estimated.
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In these manipulations, “we will do the various examinations all along to try that there is no dead time, wasted time (…) the veterinarian will first carry out a visual examination, then a blood, take a breath sample, etc.
“, developed the specialist.
Asked about the feasibility of such an operation, given the size (about four meters) and the weight of the beluga (800 kg), Isabelle Brasseur pointed out that Marineland had, in the past, ensured the extraction and transport larger animals, such as an orca born in Antibes and transported to the United States.
According to the association Seasheperd France, the operation could begin this Tuesday afternoon.
