Sick orca stranded for days in Seine dies

An ailing orca, or killer whale, lost for days in France's Seine river has been found dead, a day after marine experts had decided to euthanise the animal following failed rescue attempts.

A boatman saw the whale drifting in the river on Monday morning, the northern Seine-Maritime prefecture in Rouen said.

With the support of the harbour master's office, the Sea Shepherd France organisation then located the marine mammal and confirmed it was dead.

The orca, which weighs several tonnes, will be towed to the shore.

After that, a necropsy is expected to be conducted to perhaps find out its illness.

Aerial photographs of the orca showed it covered in tumours and rashes, likely due to an advanced fungal disease that was causing the animal to suffer.

Rescuers blasted underwater recordings of orca communications in the hope it would lead the marine mammal back to open water but those attempts failed and the scientists worried they were actually causing the sick animal further distress, leading for euthanasia plans to be made.

Usually, orcas are more at home off the coasts of Scotland, Iceland and Norway, as well as further south in the Atlantic Ocean in the Bay of Biscay.

It was speculated that this orca initially strayed into the English Channel because it had fallen ill and could feed more easily in the calmer waters there, but then wound up trapped in the French river.