Beluga whale thought to be a Russian spy has been potentially assassinated, police report released
Norwegian Police have confirmed Hvaldimir's cause of death from a stick lodged in his mouth.
On the 31st of August, Hvaldimir the beluga whale was tragically found dead floating in the water near the bay of Risavika, Norway. As of 9th of September, the Norwegian police have reported that Hvladimir was killed by a stick lodged in his mouth leading to organ failure.
Whether or not the stick was lodged by a person was not been able to be determined the report stated that human interface could not be confirmed. But unfortunately, prior to his passing there had been at least two reports of sticks being lodged in Hvaldmir’s throat through malicious intent.
In 2020, he unintentionally created a minor tourist industry on the eastern coastlines’ of Norway, sightseers flocked from around Scandinavia to meet him. He learned to ask for food from people, taking advantage of his trust for humans some took it upon themselves to cause harm to Hvaldimir due to allegations that he was used as a surveillance device by the Russian military.
From this many believe his death could have been caused intentionally. Prior to the published necropsy report animal rights activist groups had claimed he was shot to death.
Credit: Ein Dahmer / Wikimedia - Beluga whale Hvaldimir in Hammerfest harbour
The Crazy but Reasonable Russian Spy Theory
The idea of Hvaldimir being a Russian spy may sound like a completely preposterous and outlandish theory reported once by a small tabloid journalist to generate some minor buzz but the fact of the matter is that there is substantial evidence towards the fact.
He was first observed in early 2019 off the coast of Hammerfest, Norway wearing a harness containing a camera, the buckle labelled “Equipment St. Petersburg”. The Russian Military (and the United States for that matter) have documented marine mammal training programs.
Not far from Hammerfest are military bases in Murmansk, a satellite image from May 2019 observed pens that could’ve housed belugas and other mammals from the area.
Verdens Gang a Norwegian publication dubbed the whale Hvaldimir from “Hval”, Norwegian for whale and “Vladimir” from the infamous Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Colonel Viktor Baranets of the Russian Navy found the claim ridiculous citing like others that the beluga was potentially from a research study. He never outright denied that it was an espionage tool and like others could not cite the research organisers and failed to provide any substantial source for his claim. It is important to note that no one has claimed Hvaldimir.
Researchers at the Norwegian Insitute of Marine Research strongly support evidence that he comes from captivity, he was reported to be tame and friendlier to humans making signals to play fetch and asking for food. Two former marine animal trainers found that he responded to hand gestures indicating prior training
Fear that he could not survive in the wild but fortunately he learned to fend for himself but still maintained contact with humans near costal regions.
Happier Origins - The Therapy Whale
The second leading theory is that due to his likelihood of being trained he comes from a nearby Russian therapy programme for children with disabilities, Artic Circle Padi Dive Centre. They allegedly ceased use of belugas but previously allowed children to hold on to them with a harness while swimming. The report below interviewing Morten Vikeby, a former consul, shows Semyon the beluga. Vikeby recently suggested that Hvaldimir is Semyon, who had escaped with his harness.
Vikeby is not a worker of the centre, and his claims have not been verified. Artic Circle Padi Dive Centre has not reported a missing beluga and havex not commented on the matter. It has been reported that they could’ve illegally released Hvaldimir and wish to bury any publicity to avoid any negative press.
- M. Bordes for Really Stupid.
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Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/norway-beluga-spy-whale-russia-561865d7ea0a3278793f4c27f8739d94
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/KML9je/hvaldimir-er-doed
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/04/europe/marine-mammals-military-training-scli-intl/index.html
https://www.nrk.no/rogaland/politiet-mistenker-ikke-at-hvaldimir-er-skutt-1.17036122
Picture: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hvaldimir_7209.jpg