[European Times Orange Compilation Report] This summer, it is really quite psychedelic! It always feels weird!
Moby Dick adventures on the Seine!
First of all, something strange happened on the Seine: a beluga whale was found on August 2!
The beluga whale, known in French as le bélouga, also known as baleine blanche, is an animal that lives in the Arctic Ocean.
图源：Wikimedia Commons/Greg Hume
You know, beluga whales usually live in cold waters, so why come to the Seine river this summer?
Moreover, when it was found, it was very gaunt, and according to government officials in the province of Eure, "its skin appears to have lesions".
Source: AFP/Dmitry Kostyukov
Its appearance attracted the attention of all parties: the National Service (Les services de l'Etat), the firefighters, the National Association for The Rescue of Shipwrecks
(SNSM), the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB), the Marine Conservation Society (Sea Shepherd), the Curtin Whale Research Group (GEEC) and the Marine Mammal and Bird Observatory Pelias... They all sent commissioners and rushed to them.
Let's hear what they had to say from the scene:
The beluga whale is well-proportioned and spends little time on the surface of the water, most of the time underwater, a behavior that complicates rescue.
—Curtin Whale Research Group (GEEC)
Vice-Chair Gérard Mauger
The whale was "far away from rescue boats and had difficulty being guided in the direction of the Seine estuary." "Thus trapped here.
- Staff of the State Service
Our team will be equipped with a drone to make it easier to find it... It is imperative to feed it and prevent it from suffering the same fate as the killer whale found in the same river at the end of May.
— Lamya Essemlali, president of L'association SeaShepherd
Yes, she mentioned that in May, killer whales were also found in the Seine, which ended in tragedy.
Killer Whale Stories:
Image source: unimedias.fr
Killer whales (also known as orcas), french for l'orque, are found in all oceans and high seas around the globe. Although they are sometimes found in tropical waters, they prefer to live in colder waters. They are usually close to coastal areas or the edge of ice floes.
On 16 May, a killer whale was seen in the Seine, which looked very young and gray; After the rescue failed, it was finally decided to euthanize him. But before it could be implemented, tragedy struck — on 30 May, it was dead, and human ammunition was found in the body.
Source: LeParisien/Sophie Poncet
Currently, ILA is offering a €10,000 bounty to find witnesses.
Essemlali is particularly worried because of the lessons learned: "The environment here is not very suitable for beluga whales, and the seine is very polluted; Also, cetaceans are very sensitive to noise, and the seine is very noisy when boats come and go. ”
To sum up, the most urgent thing is to let the beluga whale "eat", but it arrogantly avoids the rescue ship, stays underwater for a long time, and its whereabouts are unknown... All increase the difficulty of feeding!
Latest report: When it was discovered on August 2 in the Seine, it was in the Eure section of the river; On August 4 it was already in the section of the river about 70 km northwest of Paris.
It also meant that, within two days, it was moving up the Seine, farther and farther from the ocean.
Hopefully it can find its way home as soon as possible!
Wild boar sleeping peacefully in Paris?
Not only beluga whales but also wild boars (le anglier) come to Paris. A wild boar was photographed on a mattress near the Aubervilliers garbage can in Greater Paris – asleep!
Image source: Twitter
On August 3, a member of the public posted a message saying: "It's a crazy thing when you think of a wild boar sleeping on a mattress in Obervillier"
Image source: Twitter
The message was instantly liked more than 55,000 times and shared more than 7,000 times, and the photo caused a "sensation" on French social platforms on August 3. Indeed, it slept so soundly, too unattended, too wanton...
But this is likely to be a "oolong incident", careful netizens found the clue - if you zoom in on the green trash can in the background, you can see that the text on it is not in Latin, but in Hebrew.
Image source: Twitter
Some netizens kept "archaeology", and finally found this picture in earlier information -
Image source: Twitter
The time was advanced to March 2021, and netizens found clues from the comments, thinking that it should be Israel's Haifa (Haïfa en Israël).
It seems that it should not be in Paris, but the "invasion" of human territory by wild boars is "conclusive"!
The point is, this pig sleeps so well, how can Parisians who often lose sleep can see it?
Hundreds of cats mysteriously disappeared...
These are wild animals that have "entered" human territory, but at the same time, more than a hundred domestic pets are missing!
In early 2022, a resident of Hérault noticed that her cat had suddenly disappeared one night.
She searched the surrounding villages and found that at least dozens of cats were "missing".
"My cat never 'runs away from home', so I look everywhere. I found that many neighbors had the same problem, but none of their cats were found. I don't know if there are bad people behind these disappearances, whether they are gang crimes..."
According to statistics, in less than two years, about 140 cats have "disappeared"?!
At least dozens of similar "cat hunting notices" were posted in these places, all of which were shovelers trying to find their own "cat lovers":
Source: Radio France/Roulland
A few eventually found by their owners, but are generally in a bad state, and most of them do not reappear, thus "evaporating between the cats". Some citizens began to ask questions: fur trafficking, malicious behavior?
Even more disturbing is the fact that the owners of these cats live in more remote areas.
Annie Benezech, head of the Montpellier Animal Protection Association SPA (Société Protectrice des Animaux), is preparing to join the civil lawsuit immediately after the case was handed over to the court.
She said: "The number of missing cats is quite staggering. This could be a case of trafficking, or even international trafficking. I was very surprised by the inaction of the police, who refused to file a case when private individuals came to report that the cat was missing. To them, it may sound a little funny, but it's actually serious – it could be an anti-cat movement... We've had cats beheaded and hanged. But here, given the characteristics of the event, it seems to be another matter. ”
According to Annie's reasoning, it is likely to be organized trafficking! It's terrifying to think about!
The animal world and the human world have each had a certain "territory" for many years, but now it seems that the boundaries have been frequently broken.
The beluga whale that adventures on the Seine, which is "very haggard";
Killer whales that came from the same river, suspected of being "shot";
Wild boars that "sleep peacefully" by the city dumpsters are likely to have difficulty sleeping in their homes;
More than a hundred cats have been forced to "run away from home", and the criminals are certainly not "cat lovers", otherwise, how can they be willing to let them suffer and be displaced...
In particular, this summer's fires and droughts have further compressed the living space of many wild animals – I hope that everyone will love animals and work together to make their "homes" more livable and better cared for!
European Times French WeChat public account: francezone (Editor: Wen Geng)