France to rescue beluga whale stranded in River Seine

• A beluga whale has been spotted swimming in France’s Seine River.
• Officials are now deciding how to save the mammal, which is better suited to Arctic waters.
• The public is being warned to stay away from the whale.

A beluga whale has been spotted in France’s Seine River, and officials are now deciding how to save the mammal, which is better suited to cold Arctic waters.

The animal is currently near a lock in Vernon, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) north-west of Paris.

The public is being warned to stay away from the whale, which appears to be underweight.

Experts are perplexed as to why the whale has ventured so far south of its natural habitat.

“The challenge now will be to help feed it and try to accompany it towards the ocean,” said Lamya Essemlali, the head of environmental group Sea Shepherd France, as quoted by Reuters.

She stated that removing the animal from the water was not an option because it was too dangerous.

Pictures of the whale swimming slowly in the river have surfaced.

The size of the animal has not been reported by officials, but an adult beluga can grow to be more than four meters (13ft) long.

A killer whale was discovered dead after swimming up the Seine River in Normandy in May. A plan to use sound stimuli to guide the four-meter male orca back to the sea failed, and experts later concluded it was critically ill.

A dead whale was discovered in the River Thames near Gravesend in 2019, according to UK officials.

This occurred just weeks after the death of a humpback whale seen swimming in the same area of water.

It was thought to have entered the Thames due to a navigational error, possibly during high tides.

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