PARIS: A beluga whale that became a French celebrity after a wrong turn took it up the Seine River had to be euthanized Wednesday after experiencing health complications during an urgent rescue operation, authorities said.
The sparkling white marine mammal appeared deep inside France last week, having accidentally veered off the normal ocean migration route that takes belugas to and from Arctic waters.
Fearing the malnourished creature would not survive in the Seine much longer, a wildlife conservation group and veterinarians planned to move the lost whale to a saltwater port in Normandy, from where they hoped to return it to the open sea.
A team of 80 people assembled to try to save the animal’s life, and it was successfully moved Tuesday night from a river lock in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne, west of Paris, into a refrigerated truck for the 60-kilometer (99-mile) journey to the port in Ouistreham.
But during the drive, the 4-meter-long (13-foot-long) whale started to breath with difficulty, according to Florence Ollivet Courtois, a French veterinarian who worked on the rescue operation.
“During the journey, the veterinarians confirmed a worsening of its state, notably in its respiratory activities, and at the same time noticed the animal was in pain, not breathing enough,” Courtois said.
“The suffering was obvious for the animal, so it was important to release its tension, and so we had to proceed to euthanize it,” she added.
Environmentalists had acknowledged the plan to move the beluga risked fatally stressing the mammal. But marine conservation group Sea Shepherd said that it couldn’t have survived much longer in the Seine’s fresh water.
The group and veterinarians noted the whale had responded to a cocktail of antibiotics and vitamins over the last few days, making them hopeful it would recover once it was back in a saltwater environment.
A necropsy is planned on the whale, which weighed about about 800 kilograms (1,764 pounds).
Rescuers had hoped to spare the whale the fate of an orca that strayed into the Seine and died in May. In 2006, a bottlenose whale — nicknamed “Willy” — swam up the Thames River as far as London and died during a its attempted rescue.
Another complicating factor during the beluga’s rescue attempt was the extreme heat gripping France. Authorities tried to keep it cool and wet with soaked towels and moved it at nightfall when temperatures are at their lowest.
The sad end to a saga that gripped France in recent days came after experts determined the whale “was too weakened to be put back into water,” Guillaume Lericolais, the sub-prefect of France’s Calvados region, said.
Rescuers tried to feed the whale fish without success since Friday. Sea Shepherd France said veterinary exams after the beluga’s removal from the river showed it has no digestive activity.
Beluga whale lost in French river euthanized during rescue
https://arab.news/8kav2
Beluga whale lost in French river euthanized during rescue
- A team of 80 people tried to save the animal’s life by transporting the cetaceous into a refrigerated truck to the port in Ouistreham, in Normandy region.
Authorities seize ailing alligator kept illegally in New York home’s swimming pool
- The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator
- The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications
NEW YORK: An ailing alligator was seized from an upstate New York home where it was being kept illegally, state officials said.
Environmental conservation police officers seized the 750-pound (340-kilogram), 11-foot-long (3.4-meter-long) alligator on Wednesday from a home in Hamburg, south of Buffalo.
The home’s owner built an addition and installed an in-ground swimming pool for the 30-year-old alligator and allowed people, including children, to get into the water with the reptile, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The alligator has “blindness in both eyes” and spinal complications, among other health issues. The reptile was sent to a licensed caretaker until a place is found where it can receive permanent care, according to a release from the agency.
The owner’s state license to keep the alligator expired in 2021. The state determined at that time the alligator’s holding area failed to meet safety standards. Officers took action this week after learning the “extent at which the owner was seriously endangering the public,” according to a statement from the agency.
State environmental officials haven’t decided whether to bring charges.
Officials believe a lethargic 4-foot (1.2-meter) alligator found in Prospect Park Lake in Brooklyn in February 2023 was likely an abandoned pet.
McDonald’s hit by system failure at Asian outlets
- In Japan, the US fast food giant said it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”
TOKYO: Hungry McDonald’s customers in parts of Asia had trouble ordering at stores, on cellphones and at electronic kiosks on Friday after a system outage.
In Japan, the US fast food giant said on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “currently experiencing a system failure” and “temporarily suspending operation at many outlets”.
China was also affected for several hours, with the outage a hot topic on social media platform Weibo, but the firm later said its online ordering system had been fully restored.
McDonald’s in Hong Kong wrote on Facebook that its “mobile ordering and self-ordering kiosks are not functioning” but later said its system was “gradually returning to normal”.
Singapore was also hit, as were Australia and New Zealand according to media reports.
India, Indonesia and Thailand were unaffected.
‘Miracle’ birth on Jordan-London flight thanks to junior doctor
- Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action to deliver baby after crew appealed for help
- ‘I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all’
LONDON: A “miracle” baby has been born on a flight from Jordan to the UK thanks to the help of a junior doctor, Metro newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The Wizz Air flight from Amman to London’s Luton Airport recorded an extra passenger in the manifest after Hassan Khan, 28, leapt into action and helped deliver the newborn.
Two hours into the flight, a pregnant woman on board went into labor, with the crew appealing for a doctor to help.
Khan, who had been holidaying in Jordan with friends, used his experience working at Basildon Hospital’s neonatal resuscitation unit.
He said: “I told the flight attendants what equipment I needed — which would include a neonatal-sized oxygen mask, a clamp for the umbilical cord and a stethoscope — none of which they had on a plane, of course.”
But the lack of equipment did not deter Khan who, with the help of a fellow passenger to translate Arabic, delivered the baby girl using only towels.
The flight was diverted to Italy’s Brindisi Airport so the mother and newborn could receive postpartum medical care.
The family later contacted Khan to thank him and report the good health of mother and child, which he said caused “a big sigh of relief.”
His employers “were very impressed,” he added. “My consultant congratulated me and said it was a really good job.
“People were saying it was miraculous — I only realized how significant it was after I had the chance to process it all.”
It is just the 75th instance in aviation history of a baby being born on a commercial flight. The rarity can be attributed to medical guidance, which recommends that pregnant women avoid flying past the 36-week mark, or 32 weeks with twins or triplets.
Several births have taken place on flights in recent years. In 2017, a baby was given free air tickets for life after being born on a flight from Saudi Arabia to India.
Princess Kate says sorry for manipulated family photo, saying she was experimenting with editing
LONDON: Kate, the Princess of Wales, has apologized for “confusion” caused by her editing of a family photo released by the palace.
In a post on social media, Kate said that “like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.”
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused,” the post said.
The Associated Press and other news agencies withdrew the photo of Kate and children George, Charlotte and Louis, which was issued by Kensington Palace on Sunday to mark Mother’s Day in Britain. It appeared to have been manipulated, in violation of AP photo guidelines.
The palace said the photo was taken by Prince William.
It was the first official photo of Kate since her abdominal surgery nearly two months ago, and followed weeks of speculation about her whereabouts. Designed to quell speculation, it has sparked even more conjecture.
2 women drove a man’s body to a bank to withdraw his money, US police say
- The two women were charged in court with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class
ASHTABULA, Ohio: Two Ohio women have been accused of driving the body of a deceased 80-year-old man to a bank to withdraw money from his account before dropping his body off at a hospital.
Karen Casbohm, 63, and Loreen Bea Feralo, 55, were charged Tuesday in Ashtabula with gross abuse of a corpse and theft from a person in a protected class, according to Ashtabula Municipal Court records.
Police said they were called Monday evening and told that two women had dropped off a body at the Ashtabula County Medical Center emergency room without identifying the person or themselves. A few hours later, one of them contacted the hospital with information on the deceased, who was then identified as 80-year-old Douglas Layman of Ashtabula.
Officers responded to Layman’s residence and made contact with Casbohm and Feralo, who told them they had found Layman deceased earlier at the home where all three resided. Police allege that, with the help of a third unnamed person, they placed Layman in the front seat of his car and drove to a bank where they withdrew “an undisclosed amount of money” from his account.
Layman’s body “was placed in the vehicle in such a manner that he would be visible to bank staff in order to make the withdrawal,” Ashtabula Police Chief Robert Stell said in a news release Thursday. Stell told the (Ashtabula) Star Beacon that the bank ”had allowed this previously as long as they were accompanied by him.”
Lt. Mike Palinkas told WEWS-TV that one of the women had been in a live-in relationship with Layman for several years while the other had been staying there for a few months. The women said it was normal for them to take money from the account, but Palinkas said he didn’t have a full explanation for why they went there that day.
“Allegedly, they wanted to pay some bills but outside of that, there wasn’t a specific motivation provided,” Palinkas said.
Casbohm was arraigned and ordered held on $5,000 bond while Feralo is scheduled for arraignment next week. It’s unclear whether they have attorneys; numbers listed in their names had been disconnected. A message was sent to the county public defender’s office seeking comment if the office was defending one or both.
Police said they continue to investigate and other charges are possible. The coroner’s office said an autopsy to determine the cause of Layman’s death could take up to eight months.