A beluga whale that had been abandoned in the Seine river in northern France for more than a week was pulled from the water early on Wednesday, but authorities cautioned that it was in bad condition.
The 1,800-pound cetacean was removed from the river by a net and crane at approximately 4:00 a.m. (10 p.m. Eastern) after almost six hours of labour by several divers and rescuers.
It was then transported to a barge under the direct supervision of a dozen vets.
The protected beluga, which is often found in the frigid seas of the Arctic, was then given a health inspection before being transported in a freezing vehicle to Ouistreham, a coastal town.
The beluga will be placed in a seawater lock upon arrival and kept there for a few days for monitoring before being let go into the open ocean.
The beluga was stranded in Eure, but local authorities noted that the whale was worrisomely underweight.
The Eure prefecture issued a statement after the rescue effort, which it described as being “especially complicated,” and said it “bodes, according to vets, for a terrible vital prognosis.”
The 13-foot whale was stranded 81 miles inland from the Channel in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne in Normandy after being seen more than a week earlier travelling in the direction of Paris.
The animal’s condition worsened as it refused to feed since Friday because its ability to go inland had been restricted by a lock at Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, 44 miles northwest of Paris.
Prior to shipping the whale, Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, secretary general of the Eure prefecture, said that medical examinations will be conducted.
She noted that the man was male, that he was quite underweight, and that he had a few lesions.
After a few anxious days, the animal’s rescue was praised online.
The conservation organisation Sea Shepherd said on its website that “today is a terrific day for this beluga whale and for everyone engaged in its rescue.”
However, Isabelle Brasseur of the Marineland marine animal park in southern France, who was called to help with the rescue, stated that the process to return it to the water is not without danger.
She told AFP on Tuesday in Ouistreham that “it might be that he dies now, during the handling, during the voyage, or at point B.”
Between 10:00 night and 4:00 am, the rescuers holding the ropes and the 24 divers engaged in the operation had to make multiple attempts to entice the animal into the nets so that it could be pulled out of the sea.
People gathered along the river’s banks to watch as the operation’s preparations got underway.
Isabelle Rainsart remarked of the killer whale that was observed in the Seine in May but ultimately perished, “I’m hoping that he will reach the sea and that he will not end up like the orca.”
Rainsart, who initially captured the beluga on camera on August 2 from her yard overlooking the river, said, “We will wait to see how the transit works, but we may have already succeeded in the hard part.”
Beyond France, concern over the beluga’s plight has led to a significant flood of monetary gifts and other forms of assistance from both people and conservation organisations, according to authorities.
Belugas seldom go this far as they move south in the fall to eat as the ice begins to build in their native Arctic waters.
The closest beluga population, according to France’s Pelagis Observatory, which specialises in marine animals, is off the Svalbard island, north of Norway, around 1,800 miles from the Seine.
Only two belugas have ever been seen in France, and this one is imprisoned.
In 1948, a fisherman’s net was used to remove the first one from the Loire Estuary.