The next few hours will be “crucial” for the animal’s survival, according to Lamya Essemlali. The cetacean was spotted about sixty kilometers from Paris on Thursday.
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“The next hours and the next days will be crucial”, reacts Thursday August 4 on franceinfo Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France, after the observation of a beluga in the Seine, about sixty kilometers from Paris. “The emergency is to succeed in feeding and hydrating him, he is already thinner”.
The rescue operation consists initially in preventing the cetacean from continuing its ascent of the river. “You have to set up a sound barrier to block it”, explains Lamya Essemlali. A Sea Shepherd team is currently en route to the area where the beluga is located to assist authorities.
Unlike the killer whale (which died in the Seine after days of wandering last May), the president of the association is pleased that “everyone agreed to intervene as quickly as possible” to save this new animal.
However, even if the operation bears fruit and the beluga reaches the mouth of the river, its survival is far from certain, specifies Lamya Essemlali, who would like a DNA sample to be taken from the cetacean: “It’s the only way to know what its region of origin is. The ideal would be to be able to repatriate it to its natural range”. In fact, beluga whales usually live thousands of kilometers from our shores: in cold arctic and subarctic waters and in the St. Lawrence estuary in Quebec.
Regarding the reasons that led the mammal to join the Seine, the mystery remains intact but worries Lamya Essemlali: “What’s going on? A few weeks after the killer whale, it’s totally absurd to find a beluga here. We need to understand what recent phenomenon has led to such situations, and if guard against it”.
Among the tracks mentioned, the level of underwater noise pollution, caused by wind farms near the mouth or the evolution of maritime traffic, which disorients cetaceans.