“We are in a race against time, clearly,” said Lamya Essemlali, president of marine conservation group Sea Shepherd France. “It’s really super thin. His bones stick out. I don’t know if it’s already too late.” Conservationists had hoped to spare the whale from the fate of another, an Orca, also known as a killer whale, that drifted and then died in the Seine in May. The Beluga was first seen in the river earlier this week. Drone footage later taken by French fire services showed the whale gently meandering in a stretch of pale green river waters between Paris and the Normandy city of Rouen, several dozen kilometers (miles) inland from the sea. “It is a very impressive animal, which is white (and) which looks calm. It doesn’t look stressed, it surfaces regularly,” fire service officer Patrick Hérot, from the Eure region of Normandy, told French TV channel TF1. But Sea Shepherd France said the whale appeared in poor condition when spotted on Friday. The team had a boat on the river, along with drones, trying to track it – no easy task with a mammal that can spend many minutes underwater. Sea Shepherd France hoped to help the whale maintain its strength by feeding it a herring catch, Essemlali told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “We are very concerned,” he said. “The urgent thing is to feed it.” In ocean waters, Belugas eat a variety of fish as well as octopus, squid, crabs, shrimp and other animals. But the freshwater river cannot sustain its nutritional needs. “It cannot be fed in the Seine,” said Essemlali. Belugas are relatively small members of the whale family, measuring around 4 meters (13 ft) in length. Instead of trying to coax the weakened whale back from the river to the sea, Sea Shepherd France is pushing for it to be captured so it can then be repatriated by plane to the Arctic waters from which it likely came, Essemlali said. He said DNA testing could determine whether it came from waters around Norway, Canada or Russia. “It’s logistically difficult, but it’s doable,” he said. “It will be a matter of will.” “This will only be possible if we can feed it,” he added. Authorities in the Eure region said the whale was believed to be wandering a 40-kilometer (25-mile) stretch of river between two sets of locks northwest of Paris. They also said the mammal appeared alarmingly thin and swam away from the boats hoping to guide it in the direction of the wide river mouth between the seaports of Le Havre and Honfleur. “It is capable of spending long periods submerged and moving long distances,” Eure authorities said in a statement. Belugas’ pale skin and bulbous foreheads make them easily recognizable. Also known for their sociability, they usually live, hunt and migrate together in pods. Belugas are considered an endangered species and are often found in shallow coastal waters in the Arctic, according to the US government’s National Oceanic Service. He said because Belugas make a series of clicks, whistles, squeals, chirps and moans underwater, they are also known as the “canaries of the sea”. ——— Leicester reported from Le Pecq, France.
