beluga whale extraction, lost for a week in the Seine, began shortly before 10 p.m., Tuesday August 9, 2022. The 24 divers from the gendarmerie and firefighters gave a final briefing before heading to the lock to try to extract the white whale. The operation should last between 1 and 4 hours.
After nearly five days spent in a lock at Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, in the Eure, the cetacean will be transported to one of the two locks in the port of Ouistreham, in Calvados. He should stay there for three days.
Read also: REPORTAGE. Beluga in the Seine: why it will be transported to the sea “very quickly”
An operation not “won in advance”
“We will have done the maximum and the best possible”had estimated at the end of the afternoon in front of the journalists the general secretary of the prefecture of Eure, Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet.
This operation, however, is not “earned in advance”she added, it can generate stress “which is a factor of death” for the animal. The beluga was still feeding “very little” and his state of health was “stationary”, according to the sub-prefect.
The exceptional presence of the marine animal in the Seine and 70 km from Paris arouses great interest beyond the French borders.
A member of the Marineland team in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), who arrived on the scene Monday evening, indicated that the operation would be ” extraordinary “.
Once transported by refrigerated truck to Ouistreham, the animal should be deposited there for three days in a seawater lock, the time to receive care, before being taken offshore to be released there.