Sick killer whale ‘found dead in France’
Tatjana Muskiet
An ailing killer whale has been found dead after swimming up the River Seine in Normandy, France, activists say. The four-metre male orca was first spotted two weeks ago near the river’s mouth, but made its way dozens of miles upstream towards the city of Rouen. A plan to guide it back to the sea using sound stimuli failed, and experts concluded it was seriously ill. The authorities had been preparing to euthanise the animal but activists say it died of natural causes. Environmental campaign group Sea Shepherd tweeted that the orca’s corpse was found at 11:48 local time (09:48 GMT) on Monday. Reuters quoted the group’s leader Lamya Essemlali as saying that by Monday it was “a ghost of an orca” and died before any attempt could be made to put it to sleep.(BBC)…[+]
