A beluga whale that strayed into France’s Seine River has been euthanized, according to French authorities.
Early this morning, an operation began to move the animal, which had been trapped since last Friday.
A team of about 24 experts and many other volunteers used a crane and nets to load the whale into a refrigerated truck on a 99-mile (160-kilometer) journey to the port city of Ouistreham in northeastern France .
However, he developed respiratory difficulties during his transfer from the waterway from Paris to the coast and had to be euthanized.
“Despite an unprecedented beluga rescue operation, we are saddened to announce the cetacean’s death,” the prefect of the Calvados department said on Twitter.
It had been a risky move from the start, and there was concern that moving the whale might hurt it.
Conservation specialist Isabelle Brasseur said it “could die now, during the uprising”, but said it was even more “important to try”.
Veterinary examinations after it was transferred revealed that the dangerously thin beluga whale had no digestive activity for unknown reasons.
Since the whale drifted into a saltwater basin in the Normandy region, efforts had been made to free it, amid fears about its rapidly declining health.
The whale refused all the food
It was spotted in the French waterway on Wednesday after drifting thousands of kilometers from its home in the Arctic. It is believed that underwater noise from boats and ships confused the whale.
But the beluga swam away from boats trying to guide it to the river’s mouth, between the seaports of Le Havre and Honfleur, on Friday and was eventually trapped.
A team of veterinarians hoped to re-stimulate the whale’s digestive system and encourage it to eat. Conservationists had tried unsuccessfully to feed it fish since it was first found last week.
However, the whale refused all the food and worried that it might starve.
The animal had been expected to survive after it responded to a cocktail of antibiotics and vitamins administered in recent days and was rubbing against the wall of the lock to remove the spots that had appeared on its back.
In a similar incident in May last year, a minke whale had to be euthanized after it became stranded in the River Thames.