Ophélie Artaud with AFP 4:27 p.m., May 25, 2022
For several weeks, an orca has been observed in the mouth of the Seine, between Le Havre and Rouen.
It would be a male, which would measure about four to five meters.
If it is difficult to know how the animal ended up in the river, its state of health worries more and more the specialists.
A very rare phenomenon.
For ten days, an orca has been evolving in the mouth of the Seine, between Le Havre and Rouen.
She was first seen in early April by fishermen.
After noticing an unusually large fin, they noted that it was an orca and immortalized the event, as reported by the Cotentin Cetacean Study Group (GEEC).
If the image seems exceptional, the animal is in fact in very great difficulty and the specialists are more and more worried about its state of health.
An orca in Normandy!
Clément Thomas, skipper of the shellfish trawler ATLAS, filmed this incredible scene off the Baie de la Seine.
He saw the dorsal fin of a male killer whale a few hundred meters away.
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- That's enough !
(@cestassezfrance) April 9, 2022
A "very degraded" state of health
"The vital prognosis is engaged. We are really very worried because his state of health is very degraded", explained to AFP Gérard Mauger, vice-president of the GECC, an association based in Cherbourg commissioned by the French Office of the biodiversity (OFB) for the study and preservation of marine mammals in the Channel.
“The longer she stays in fresh water, the more it will accelerate the deterioration of her state of health. She is very far from the sea. It is complicated to find solutions to try to encourage her to return to the path of the sea. 'salt water".
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Especially since the killer whale "has done quite a bit of road in fresh water. There it stagnates a little bit but the tendency is that it goes up the Seine inland", he said. he adds.
According to specialists, it would be a male, which measures between four and five meters.
He is also "very emaciated", because of the many difficulties to feed in a river.
"Her state of health makes it more comfortable to be in a river because it is less agitated. She spends less energy but it is more complicated to feed: there are fewer prey than at sea. And she is all alone when they are animals that hunt in packs,” said the GEEC specialist.
Do not approach the animal
It is difficult to determine the reasons why the marine mammal ended up in the river.
It is also difficult to help the animal, because the presence of humans could stress it and worsen its state of health.
The GEEC recalls that the killer whale is a protected species and that it can be dangerous to approach it.
It could transmit viruses or cause an accident while moving.
The marine mammal remains closely watched, hoping that it can reach the sea.