A bold rescue attempt is under way to save a beluga whale stranded in the River Seine in northern France.
Final details are being worked out to return it to the sea by a group of marine experts amid fears for its health.
The 4-metre cetacean was spotted a week ago swimming towards Paris and has since travelled 130 kilometres inland.
The protected mammals, usually found in cold Arctic waters, are known to be very sociable, living, hunting and migrating together in pods. While they migrate south in the autumn to feed, they rarely venture as far as the location reached by the lost beluga.
Government officials in the Eure department in Normandy, north-west France, said an operation planned for Tuesday evening would see marine experts attempt to transport the whale back to the ocean. The mission would be risky given that the beluga is already sick and malnourished.
“An operation to transport the beluga astray in the Seine will be attempted this evening,” said government officials in the Eure department who are orchestrating the effort.
The whale’s progress inland has been blocked by a lock at Saint-Pierre-La-Garenne in Normandy, and its health has deteriorated.
At the weekend conservationists gave the whale a “vitamin cocktail” but it has so far refused food, fuelling fears it could be starving to death.
But despite turning down offers of herring and trout, its condition is currently “satisfactory”, Isabelle Brasseur of the Marineland sea animal park in southern France, the biggest of its kind in Europe, told AFP.
She is part of a Marineland team sent to assist with the rescue, along with the Sea Shepherd France NGO.
“What's exceptional is that here the banks of the Seine are not accessible for vehicles … everything is going to have to be done by hand,” Ms Brasseur said.
Since being spotted in the Seine last week, the beluga has not changed course, and experts have dismissed any attempt to “nudge” it back towards the English Channel with boats, saying it would stress the weakened mammal and probably be futile in any case.
The rescue mission will involve a team of experts attempting to move the 800kg whale on to a truck and drive it to an undisclosed seawater basin where it can be treated before being released into the sea, the Eure authorities said.
The Sea Shepherd France NGO assisting the operation said that tranquilisation is not an option, since belugas are so-called “voluntary breathers” that need to be awake to inhale air.
Veterinarians will keep constant surveillance during the move.
“In any case, we have to get it out of there … and try to figure out what is wrong,” Ms Brasseur said.
“There may be internal problems that we can't see,” she said, although belugas are “extremely hardy” as a species.
Interest in the beluga's fate has spread far beyond France, generating a large influx of financial donations and other aid from conservation groups, as well as individuals, officials said.
Sea Shepherd on Monday issued an appeal in particular for heavy-duty ropes, nets, mattresses and other equipment.
According to France's Pelagis Observatory, which specialises in sea mammals, the nearest beluga population is off the Svalbard archipelago, north of Norway, 3,000km from the Seine.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League last 16, first leg
Liverpool v Bayern Munich, midnight, Wednesday, BeIN Sports
The specs: 2017 Dodge Viper SRT
Price, base / as tested Dh460,000
Engine 8.4L V10
Transmission Six-speed manual
Power 645hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 813Nm @ 5,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 16.8L / 100km
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
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The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
