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French officials to Use Orca Sounds to Guide Lost Whale Back to Sea

An orca swims in the River Seine at Duclair in Normandy, after straying into the river from the sea and swimming from Le Havre to Rouen, France, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
An orca swims in the River Seine at Duclair in Normandy, after straying into the river from the sea and swimming from Le Havre to Rouen, France, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
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French officials to Use Orca Sounds to Guide Lost Whale Back to Sea

An orca swims in the River Seine at Duclair in Normandy, after straying into the river from the sea and swimming from Le Havre to Rouen, France, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol
An orca swims in the River Seine at Duclair in Normandy, after straying into the river from the sea and swimming from Le Havre to Rouen, France, May 26, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

A plan has been hatched to guide a killer whale adrift in France's River Seine back to the sea — using orca sounds, local officials said on Friday.

Following a meeting with national and international scientists, including marine mammal specialists, the local prefecture said it would monitor the killer whale from a distance with a drone while emitting orca communications in an attempt to guide it back to the sea.

"The use of these non-invasive methods, from several hundred meters (feet) distance, will make it possible to avoid using ships in the immediate proximity of the animal, which could aggravate its stress and endanger it survival, as well as the safety of rescuers," said the Seine-Maritime prefecture in a statement posted on Twitter.

The whale, whose health is deteriorating in fresh water, strayed from the ocean earlier this month, and is at risk of dying.

The 4-meter orca, identified as a male, was first spotted at the mouth of the Seine on May 16 between the port of Le Havre and the town of Honfleur in Normandy, before it travelled dozens of kilometers upstream to reach west of the city of Rouen, Reuters reported.

Several French media outlets showed footage of the killer whale in the river, its dorsal fin sticking out of the water and its distinctive black and white coloring showing as it comes up for air.

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Scientist Bottles Smell of Bones to Help Solve Cold Cases

Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, looks at human bones in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, looks at human bones in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Scientist Bottles Smell of Bones to Help Solve Cold Cases

Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, looks at human bones in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman
Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, looks at human bones in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Yves Herman

A Belgian research scientist is working with the federal police to create a scent that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains.

Clement Martin has already isolated the smell of decomposing human flesh and that is now used to train Belgium's cadaver dogs.

But once the soft tissue has disappeared, the scent molecules of the remaining bones become significantly fewer, scientific researcher Martin told Reuters.

"Bones smell different over the years too. A 3-year-old bone will smell different to a 10-year-old one and even 20 years," he said.

Skeletal remains are porous too and absorb smells from the surrounding environment, from the soil to pine trees.

"In the situation of cold cases, there was a gap. Our dogs were not able to find dried bones," Kris Cardoen, head of federal police dog training, told Reuters.

At a police training centre outside Brussels, inspector Kristof Van Langenhove and his springer spaniel Bones demonstrated part of the training with Martin's corpse scent.

Cardoen hid some tissues between cinder blocks and only contaminated a few. The dog then barked when he found the smell.

"The scent of death is one of the three tools we use during the basic training of our human remains dog," Cardoen said.

Cadaver dogs require 1,000 hours of training and the country only ever has four at any one time.

Martin is using different samples of dried bones to develop the smell, including those of an unidentified man found in a suitcase, which are kept in a glass cylinder to allow the molecules to permeate an enclosed space ready for extraction.

"It's a bit like a perfumer developing his perfume, he's going to mix different aromas," Martin said.