In France, a battle to save weakened whale lost in the Seine

Source: AP

By OLEG CETINIC and JOHN LEICESTER

SAINT-PIERRE-LA-GARENNE, France (AP) — French environmentalists were hoping Friday to feed a catch of herring to a worryingly thin Beluga whale that has strayed far from its Arctic habitat into France’s Seine River. They fear that the ethereal white mammal is slowly starving in the waterway that flows through Paris and beyond.

“We are in a race against the clock, clearly,” said Lamya Essemlali, president of marine conservation group Sea Shepherd France. “It is really extremely thin. Its bones are protruding. I don’t know if it’s already too late.”

Conservationists were hoping to spare the whale the fate of another, an Orca, also known as a killer whale, that strayed and then died in the Seine in May.

The Beluga was first seen in the river earlier this week. Drone footage subsequently shot by French fire services showed the whale gently meandering in a stretch of the river’s light green waters between Paris and the Normandy city of Rouen, many dozens of kilometers (miles) inland from the sea.



French fire brigade tracking on a rubber boats a Beluga whale on the Seine river in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, west of Paris, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022. French authorities are tracking a Beluga whale that strayed far from its Artic habitat into the Seine River, raising fears that the ethereal white mammal could starve if it stays in the waterway that flows through Paris and beyond. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)


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