The beluga, which had been missing in the Seine for a week, was released from the lock of Saint-Pierre-la Garenne (northern France) overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, the first phase of the “extraordinary” operation to try to recover her to put to sea , noted AFP.
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At around 0200 GMT, after a six-hour effort, the nearly 800kg whale, whose health condition was listed as “alarming”, was lifted into a net pulled by a crane and placed onto a barge, where he was immediately tended to by a dozen Veterinarians in white overalls.
The beluga, a cold-water animal whose presence in the Seine is exceptional, must then be loaded onto a refrigerated truck that transports it out of the water “on straw or some other comfort element” to reach shore. said Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, Secretary General of the Prefecture of Eure (department where Saint-Pierre-la Garenne is located), before the start of the delicate operation.
A seawater basin in a lock in the port of Ouistreham (northern France) has been made available to house the animal, which will remain there for three days “while we organize its repatriation in the open sea and monitor its state of health,” according to the sub-prefect.
The whale sighted in the river on August 2 has been held in the basin of a lock located 70 km north-west of Paris since Friday.
The operation to put him back in the sea when he is “out of the ordinary” is not without risk for the already weakened and stress-sensitive beluga, recalls Isabelle Brasseur of Marineland marine zoo in Antibes.
“It could be that he dies now, during the manipulation, while driving or at point B” in Ouistreham, she warned.
The 24 divers deployed and the rescuers handling the ropes around the pool had to make multiple attempts between 8pm and 2am GMT to lure the animal into the nets and structure that could lift it out of the water, AFP journalists found Celebration.
A handful of curious stayed on the shore all night to watch the operations.