French environmentalists will try to move a dangerously thin beluga whale that strayed into the Seine River last week to a saltwater river basin Tuesday to try and save its life.
The mammal, measuring four metres , will be transported there for "a period of care" by medics who suspect the mammal is sick and in a race against the clock, said Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France.If the whale responds to treatment, it may finally be released back to the open sea.
The marine conservation group has described plans to move the beluga -- which was first spotted last week in the Seine, worryingly far from its Arctic habitat -- as an "enormous operation." Authorities suspect that the whale is ill. Yet they remain hopeful it may survive after it responded to a cocktail of antibiotics and vitamins the last few days and visibly "rubbed itself on the lock's wall and got rid of patches that had appeared on its back."