• With the help of volunteers from Sea Sheperd France and firefighters, the whale that ran aground on a beach in Finistère on Monday managed to return to the sea overnight.

  • A furrow has been dug in the sand to help the cetacean go back to sea when the tide rises.

  • Earlier in the day, an operation to tow the animal had failed, raising fears for the worst.

They worked all night to try to save the animal.

And the combativeness of Sea Sheperd France activists and firefighters ended up paying since the 12-meter whale that ran aground on Monday on Ty an Quer beach in Ploéven (Finistère) managed to return to the sea on the night of Monday to Tuesday.

“Miraculous!

The whale is gone!

Some said he was dying, lost, tide too low, we helped him and he understood!

He put all his energy into getting back on track and with our help, he got there, it was magnificent!

“welcomed the NGO for the defense of the oceans on its Twitter account.


The game was however far from being won to save the cetacean which was "in a state of weight loss and very pronounced weakening", according to the prefecture of Finistère.

The high tide having not made it possible to return to the sea, the authorities attempted on Monday to tow it on an ebb tide.

An operation that ended in failure.

"The conditions of siltation of the body in a flat area did not, however, allow the animal to be handled without putting it in immediate danger", indicated in the evening the prefecture of Finistère in a press release.

A furrow dug in the sand to help the animal

Sea Sheperd France volunteers then took turns on the site to hydrate the whale with wet sheets to protect it from the sun.

Equipped with a shovel, before two backhoe loaders intervened, they then attempted the last-ditch operation by digging a furrow in the sand to help the cetacean go back to sea at the rising tide.


The last chance operation to help the whale go back to the sea. Still 4 hours before the peak of the tide where we will try everything with the help of the firefighters pic.twitter.com/2SixZ2rJvU

— Sea Shepherd France (@SeaShepherdFran) September 19, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.


And the miracle happened around 12:30 a.m.

“Under the supervision of the firefighters on site and volunteers from the Sea Shepherd association, the animal was able to take advantage of the basin and the channel dug by the means brought on site Monday afternoon to return to the sea”, indicates this Tuesday morning. Prefecture.

The outcome is therefore happy for this cetacean, the third to be stranded in a few days on the coast of Finistère.

On September 2, the carcass of a fin whale 15 to 20 meters long was discovered south of the island of Sein.

Eight days later, another whale over 17 meters was stranded in Tréguennec.

Planet

Leclerc creates controversy by selling blue shark, an endangered species

Planet

Hérault: In Valras-Plage, 95 baby turtles finally returned to the sea

  • Planet

  • Sea Shepherd

  • Whale

  • Animals

  • Miracle

  • Brittany