We must save the beluga lost in the Seine

An orca a few weeks ago and now a beluga. There are really strange things happening in the Seine. And while rescue operations have failed for the orca, the authorities are doing everything they can to put the beluga back on the right track.

The beluga is a cetacean – a species protected -, a kind of whale, which normally lives in the cold waters of theArctic ocean and in the estuary of Saint Laurent (Canada). Normally. Because it so happens that at the beginning of the week, a beluga was observed swimming in the Seine. Operations coordinated by the prefecture of the Eure department are underway to try to save him.

According to specialists, it can happen that isolated individuals get lost in warmer waters. And they even temporarily survive in fresh water. But this Thursday, the experts dispatched to the site were rather pessimistic. After a meticulous evaluation, the prefecture of Eure evokes a “worrying state of health”. The animal presents “skin alterations and being thinner”. It therefore seems urgent to succeed in feeding the lost beluga. To avoid the sad fate of the killer whale, also lost in the Seine at the beginning of June. She had died of starvation – after, all the same, having taken a bullet in the head…

How did a beluga arrive in the Seine?

Because despite everything, the beluga seems to remain toned. The Cotentin Cetacean Study Group (GEEC) describes an animal that performs long apnea in the waters of the Seine. The sign that his lung capacity is not altered. However, this behavior complicates the task of those who would like to guide it to the mouth. For the time being, the beluga would rather tend to flee the boats.

One hypothesis – which remains to be verified, however – would also suggest that it is sound disturbances that are at the origin of the beluga’s wandering. Because this cetacean moves thanks to a sonar natural, which could have been deceived by the noise pollution at the mouth of the Seine.

According to the latest news, the lost beluga was crossing between the Poses dam and that of Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne. That is about 70 kilometers northwest of Paris. It is of course advisable to avoid moving to try to approach it.