<br /> <p>Parisians were surprised to find the corpse of a beached sperm whale lying on the side of the Seine across from the Notre Dame on Friday morning.</p><p>The beached whale turned out to be a realistic work of art created by the Belgian artist collective, Captain Boomer</a>. The collective has staged seven other “beachings” in cities across Europe</a>. According to their website</a>, the life-size statues are a “gigantic metaphor for the disruption of our ecological system.”</p><p>This video shows the whale lying on the edge of the Seine with the Notre Dame in the distance. Credit: YouTube/Férid Riahi via Storyful</p><br />
