The disease can cause great suffering to the animal, said the responsible prefecture of Seine-Maritime, based in Rouen, France, on Sunday evening. Other weakened mammals could also be infected by the sick orca. The rescue operation, which should lead the animal to the sea, was therefore canceled.
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 Normandy coast. Since then, the orca has been spotted time and time 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 moving towards the sea, the orca kept swimming back and forth, the prefecture said. During the rescue operation, the researchers noticed erratic and disoriented behavior and hardly any animation.
Source: Nachrichten
