why the animal is not extracted

ANIMALS – News of the beluga lost in the Seine since August 2. Vitamins will be administered to the animal which is in the Seine about 70 km from Paris so that it regains its appetite when it no longer eats, announced this Saturday August 6 the prefecture of the ‘Eure. On the other hand, there are no plans to extract it from the Seine to put it back into the sea.

“Vitamins are administered by a veterinarian with the usual means, arrowing (…). There is no reason to be impressed by this technique”said Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, secretary general of the Eure prefecture, during a press briefing on Saturday near the lock of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garenne.

Asked about the possibility of extracting it from the basin, she replied that it was not the preferred hypothesis because the specialists are not certain. “that the beluga be strong enough to withstand this manipulation”.

Attempts to feed him failed

The beluga, a four-meter cetacean whose presence in the Seine is exceptional, still continued not to eat on Saturday, while it has been in a lock measuring approximately 125 m by 25 m since Friday. .

Any decision will be made “in the interest of the animal” et “no decision has been made yet” while analyzes are awaited, repeated the secretary general of the prefecture.

Another element, “little specks” appeared which may be natural due to fresh water but which may also mean “other difficulties”according to the same source.

“He is a fairly emaciated individual and seems to have feeding difficulties”, said Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet. Attempts to feed it, with dead herring and then live trout, have apparently failed.

Among the hypotheses to prevent the cetacean from perishing are the reopening “from the lock to the sea, 160 km away, so that he can resume his journey” or keep it in the basin “so that he can regain his appetite”.

Before the beluga, the orca of the Seine

The beluga, which was Saturday ” very calm “ and going back and forth in the basin ” calmly “was spotted on August 2 in the Seine.

In May, an orca found itself in difficulty in the Seine between Rouen and Le Havre. The operations to try to save the cetacean had failed and the animal had finally died of starvation.

According to Isabelle Dorliat-Pouzet, the situation between the orca and the beluga is “very different”. The orca “was more weakened than the beluga” and “had disappeared from the radar for a while”. They are “two different animals, the killer whale is less tolerant of fresh water than the beluga”she explained.

According to the Pelagis observatory, which specializes in marine mammals, this is the second beluga known in France after a fisherman from the Loire estuary brought one up in his nets in 1948. The beluga is a protected species from cetacean usually living in cold waters.

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