On August 31, 2024, Hvaldimir (male beluga whale) was discovered dead in the bay of Risavika, near Stavanger (coast of Norway). Following that, the animal rights groups NOAH and One Whale lodged a police complaint, claiming that Hvaldimir died as a result of bullet wounds. Hvaldimir was accused of being a “spy whale” after it was found that he was carrying a Russian harness in 2019. Although his amiability to people made him popular with tourists, his supporters have long cautioned that this rendered him susceptible to threats.
In April 2019, fishermen near Hammerfest, in northern Norway, spotted a male beluga whale named Hvaldimir who was wearing a camera harness. The whale stayed in the vicinity and seemed accustomed to people after being released from the harness. He was given the nickname Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word for “whale” and Russian President Vladimir Putin, due to rumours that he had received training from Russia to become a spy whale. By 2023, it looked as though Hvaldimir had spread to encompass parts of Sweden’s southwest coast. On August 31, 2024, Hvaldimir was discovered dead in the Bay of Risavika.
Beginning on April 26, 2019, the whale was seen near the settlement of Tufjord on the island of Rolvsøya, north of Hammerfest, off the island of Ingøya. It was wearing a tight-fitting camera harness with the label “Equipment St. Petersburg” and was rubbing against boats in what appeared to be an attempt to break free. Fishermen and animal rescue personnel laboured to release him from the harness . When the harness buckles eventually came undone, a fisherman by the name of Joar Hesten, put on a survival suit leaped and over the side of the boat to remove the harness. For several days, the whale kept coming back to the boats to play fetch and ask for food. He shown his remarkable tameness by responding to calls and enjoying being scratched near the blowhole. Afterwards, he went to Hammerfest Harbour by boat.
Regarding Hvaldimir’s wellbeing, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority have released contradictory comments on several occasions, with the former even asserting that he had turned into a “wild” whale. Hvaldimir continued to live full-time in and around the Norwegian coast’s fisheries as of January 2023. He was regularly spotted mingling with locals, visitors, employees, and fisherman. Early in the spring of 2023, Hvaldimir had received little protection, care, or welfare plan from any branch or agency of the Norwegian government; instead, the majority of his prior medical attention, food, and social interactions came from a number of international whale activism groups, the presence of which had been authorized by Norwegian authorities.
Hvaldimir moved quicker than previously recorded around the Scandinavian shoreline and was discovered in May 2023 close to Hunnebostrand in southwest Sweden. Marine biologist Sebastian Strand hypothesized that the whale may have been looking for a partner or for company among members of his species, while the exact motivations behind this movement are unknown.
Ein Dahmer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
When the harness was taken off, “St. Petersburg” was written on the buckle clip.The whale may have been trained for use in Russian espionage because of its harness and camera. There are known military cetacean training programs in both the US and Russia , with the Russian operations involving beluga whales. The Norwegian colleague was informed by a Russian marine expert that the harness was not the same kind that Russian scientists utilized. “If we were using this animal for spying do you think we would attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘please call this number’?” asked Russian military spokesman Colonel Viktor Baranets in response.
According to reports on July 10, 2023, the town council of Hammerfest actually voted 28–32 in favour of creating a private fjord refuge within the Finnmark region, away from the crowded harbour, and away from possibly dangerous tourists and marine traffic. Some captive and human-conditioned beluga whales from around the world could be rescued and possibly joined with Hvaldimir; the whales could then be released further north to the waters off Svalbard, where a group of wild beluga whales is known to exist, according to OneWhale, one of the organizations involved in Hvaldimir’s care and observations.
On August 31, 2024, Hvaldimir was discovered dead in the bay of Risavika, near Stavanger. Following that, the animal rights groups NOAH and One Whale lodged a police complaint, claiming that Hvaldimir died as a result of bullet wounds.