The famous Hvaldimir, a whale suspected of spying for Russia, was found dead off the coast of Norway.
“When I saw his body and the numerous injuries, I knew immediately that he had died from gunshot wounds,” said Regina Haug, founder of OneWhale, an animal rights organization whose mission is to protect whales.
“I even saw a bullet in his body. There is no doubt that this kind, gentle animal was senselessly killed,” she said, adding that the organization had filed a complaint with the police and demanded a thorough investigation.
This was reported by the Norwegian online newspaper The Barentss Observer.
Hvaldimir found dead
An Arctic beluga whale that Norwegians have named Hvaldimir (a combination of the Norwegian word “hval,” meaning whale, and the name Vladimir) approached fishermen in the Norwegian Sea in 2019. The animal was soon discovered wearing a harness with a GoPro camera attached to its body and an inscription stating that the equipment came from St. Petersburg.
Norwegian authorities suspect that the beluga whale was used or trained for espionage missions. Analysis of satellite photos taken in Kola Bay, near the town of Olenya Guba, where Russian submarines are stationed, showed that there are structures that look like whale cages.
The Norwegian press also wrote about “Putin’s secret weapon” and recalled that both the USSR and the United States trained marine mammals to perform military and reconnaissance tasks during the Cold War.
Was the whale spying for Russia?
OneWhale was actively involved in the operation to move Hvaldimir to safe waters where he could join other beluga whales. The Norwegian Fisheries Authority issued the appropriate permits in June and the whale was to be taken to Jarfjord in the Barents Sea. On August 31, he was found dead near the port city of Stavanger, on the southwest coast of Norway.
According to the BBC, the animal died at a young age: Hvaldimir was about 15 years old, while the average lifespan of these marine mammals is 60 years.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
