A Beluga whale swims between two locks on the Seine river. Photo: JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER/AFP via Getty Images
A Beluga whale stranded in the River Seine for six days has been given a vitamin injection in a desperate attempt to stop it from starving to death. Environmentalists in France have been working to rescue the severely malnourished and dangerously thin whale with little progress. With the Beluga refusing to eat the live trout and frozen herring tossed his way, experts have turned to a vitamin-infused injection that they hope will help the whale regain enough strength to find its way back to the sea as it is currently too weak to survive a physical rescue. According to Sea Shepherd France, an environmental NGO helping to coordinate the rescue, the whale remains “alert and dynamic” and early signs suggest the injection is starting to work. “The beluga is still not feeding but it continues to be curious,” Sea Shepherd France wrote. “Around 4AM he rubbed himself for 30 minutes on the walls of the lock and got rid of the stains that had appeared on his back. Antibiotics may also have helped.”
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The stranded Beluga was first spotted early last week, thousands of miles from its natural home in the Arctic. The whale is currently swimming gently within 25 miles of two locks that are keeping it from straying further inland.