Europe 1 with AFP 3:13 p.m., August 06, 2022

Since the beginning of the week, a beluga has been evolving in the Seine, about 70 kilometers from Paris.

An extremely rare presence, especially since the animal normally lives in cold arctic and subarctic waters.

"Thinned", the cetacean would not feed for several days.

Associations and specialists fear for its survival.

A beluga, a cetacean whose presence in the Seine is exceptional, still continued not to eat this Saturday, while it has been in a lock since Friday located 70 kilometers from Paris, AFP learned from the prefecture of Eure.

"There is no food from him, he is still playing at Notre-Dame de la Garenne," the prefecture told AFP on Saturday morning.

"It is still subject to surveillance by the state and the associations concerned," added the prefecture.

The lock where the animal is closed to navigation

The lock, which is approximately 200 m long, is closed and closed to navigation until further notice.

According to the Pelagis observatory, which specializes in marine mammals, it is the second beluga known in France after a fisherman from the Loire estuary brought one up in his nets in 1948. The beluga, which measures around 4 meters in adulthood, is a protected species of cetacean usually living in cold waters.

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In early July, Sea Shepherd announced that it had observed a cetacean presented as a fin whale in the Le Havre estuary.

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.