Hvaldimir
© Joakim EskildsenHvaldimir is a male beluga whale that fishermen near Hammerfest in northern Norway noticed in April 2019 wearing a camera harness. After being freed from the harness, the whale remained in the area and appeared used to humans. Speculation that he had been trained by Russia as a spy whale led to his being dubbed Hvaldimir.
Upon removing the harness, the buckle clip read "St. Petersburg". This harness and camera led to suspicion that the whale had been trained for use in Russian espionage. Both the United States and Russia are known to have military cetacean training programs,with Russian programs incorporating beluga whales. A Russian marine scientist told a Norwegian colleague that the harness was not of a type used by Russian scientists. The Norwegian Police Security Service is investigating. A Russian naval analyst, Mikhail Barabanov, said he thought the whale was part of a zoological tracking project. In late May 2019 satellite photos surfaced reportedly showing pens at the Russian base at Olenya Guba that could accommodate belugas and other cetaceans.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority have repeatedly issued conflicting statements about Hvaldimir's welfare, at times claiming he had become a “wild” whale. In January of 2023, Hvaldimir was still living full-time in and around fisheries off the coast of Norway, where he frequently would be seen interacting with workers, fishermen, locals and tourists. By the early spring of 2023, no Norwegian agency or branch within the government had yet provided any protection, welfare plan or care for Hvaldimir; much of his earlier feeding, health care and human interactions had come from several international whale activism groups, whose volunteer presence had been approved by the Norwegian authorities.
In May of 2023, Hvaldimir was located near Hunnebostrand, in south-western Sweden, having travelled along the Scandinavian coastline at a faster speed than previously observed. While the reasons for this movement aren't entirely clear, marine biologist Sebastian Strand speculated that the whale may be seeking the company of others of his species, to socialize, or to find a mate.
In early June of 2023, still without a clear plan for the future, Hvaldimir appeared in a highly populated area, in a river near midtown Gothenburg, Sweden. In mid-June, he followed a boat to the river Glomma.
On 26 June, Hvaldimir showed up in Strömstad and in Kungshamn, two towns not far from the Norwegian border.
On 10 July 2023, it was reported that the Hammerfest town council had actually voted 28-32 in-favor of setting up a private fjord sanctuary away from the busy harbor, but still within the region of Finnmark, away from maritime traffic and potentially dangerous tourists. OneWhale, one of the organizations involved in Hvaldimir’s care and observations, stated that other captive and human-conditioned beluga whales from around the world could be rescued and potentially joined with Hvaldimir, with the whales possibly being released further north to the waters off Svalbard, where a group of wild belugas is known to exist.
The story was commissioned by The New York Times Magazine
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