The stray orca in the Seine has an advanced fungal infection and is being euthanized. The disease could cause the animal a lot of suffering, the responsible prefecture of Seine-Maritime, based in Rouen, France, said Sunday evening.
Other weakened mammals can also be infected by the sick orca. The rescue operation that started on Sunday – krone.at reported – and would lead the animal to the sea was therefore cancelled.
Animal has been wandering off the French coast for weeks
According to the Marine Mammal Research Group (GEEC), the whale was first sighted in early April by the crew of a trawler about 30 kilometers off the coast of Normandy. Since then, the killer whale has been seen time and again along the coast, in the Seine estuary and even some 60 kilometers upstream in the Seine near Yainville. Orcas are usually more at home off the coasts of Scotland, Iceland and Norway and further south in the Atlantic Ocean in the Bay of Biscay.
Instead of going to sea, the killer whale kept swimming back and forth, the prefecture said. During the rescue mission, the researchers observed erratic and disoriented behavior and hardly any animation.
Source: Krone
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