PARIS — A beluga whale stuck for days in France’s River Seine died Wednesday during a perilous rescue mission.
The 13-foot white creature was successfully taken out of the river, where its remarkable presence had gained international attention and developing fears for its wellbeing. But the dangerously underweight whale began fighting to breathe during the rescue effort, leading authorities to believe that euthanizing it would be the most humanitarian solution.
“Despite an unparalleled beluga rescue operation, we are sad to inform the death of the cetacean,” the Calvados prefecture, where the whale was going to be watched, wrote on its Twitter account.
A team of divers, veterinarians and rescue personnel worked overnight to save the mammal in a difficult operation, according to marine life nonprofit Sea Shepherd France, which monitored it.
As soon as they got hold of it, they formed a net around the 1,700-pound whale to capture it.
The team then used a tractor and a crane to hoist him out of the water, which took six hours.
The creature was then to be transported to a saltwater pool in Normandy via refrigerated vehicle.
The nearest beluga population is located off the Svalbard archipelago, north of Norway, 3,000 kilometres from the Seine, according to France’s Pelagis Observatory, which specialises in sea mammals.
Beluga whales have never been observed in France before this incident. In 1948, a fisherman found the first in the Loire estuary.
More than a week ago, the four-meter whale was sighted moving toward Paris, and it was stuck approximately 130 kilometres inland in Normandy.
