The beluga, lost in the Seine for a week, was released overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday from the lock of Saint-Pierre-la Garenne (northern France), the first stage of the “exceptional” operation to try to put it back at sea, AFP noted.
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Around 02:00 GMT, after six hours of effort, the cetacean, weighing nearly 800 kg and whose state of health was deemed “alarming”, was lifted in a net towed by a crane and placed on a barge, where he was was immediately taken care of by a dozen veterinarians dressed in white coveralls.
The beluga, an animal living in cold waters, whose presence in the Seine is exceptional, must then be placed in a refrigerated truck which will transport it out of the water, “on straw or another element of comfort”, bound for the coastline, said Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, secretary general of the prefecture of Eure (department where Saint-Pierre-la Garenne is located), before the start of the delicate operation.
A basin of seawater, in a lock in the port of Ouistreham (northern France), was made available to receive the animal, which will remain there for three days, “while we organize its repatriation in open sea and that we observe his state of health”, according to the sub-prefect.
Spotted on August 2 in the river, the cetacean has been detained since Friday in the basin of a lock, located 70 km northwest of Paris.
The operation to bring it back to the sea, if it is “out of the ordinary”, is not without risk for the beluga, already weakened and sensitive to stress, recalled Isabelle Brasseur, of the Marineland marine zoo in Antibes.
“It could be that he dies now, during the manipulation, during the journey or at point B” in Ouistreham, she warned.
The 24 divers engaged and the rescuers handling the ropes around the basin had to try several times, between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. GMT, to lure the animal into the nets and the structure capable of lifting it out of the water, noted AFP journalists.
A handful of curious people remained on the bank all night to observe the operations.