Amid still unproven speculation that he may have been a Russian spy, questions have now arisen as to whether Norway’s adopted beluga whale, Hvaldimir, was the victim of assassination.

I can’t bear to think about it. But although it’s not yet been verified, two Norwegian animal rights groups have alleged that when Hvaldimir’s lifeless body was found last weekend in southern Norway, it appeared that he had been shot.

Hvaldimir, of course, is the beautiful white beluga whale who first appeared in Norwegian waters in 2019. When discovered, he was wearing a specially-made harness with mounts for a camera, and a buckle that read “Equipment Saint Petersburg.” Thus the belief arose that he might have been a Russian spy whale who had gotten lost, or simply decided to defect. He was friendly toward people and seemed happy in Norway, so the local folks adopted him and planned to relocate him to a safer place where there was a wild population of belugas. [Avery Schmitz, CNN, September 4, 2024.]

And now Hvaldimir — whose name is a blend of “hval,” the Norwegian word for whale, and “dimir” from Vladimir Putin’s first name — is gone. And the animal rights groups OneWhale and NOAH are calling for a criminal investigation “based on compelling evidence that the whale was killed by gunshot wounds.” OneWhale has said that “several veterinarians, biologists, and ballistics experts have reviewed [the] evidence of Hvaldimir’s injuries, determining that the whale’s death was the result of a criminal act.” [Id.]

And now we await the results of a formal necropsy.

But murdered or not, Hvaldimir is sorely missed by the people of Norway, to whom he had become something of a folk legend. And to all animal lovers — myself included — it’s always a tragedy to lose one of nature’s beautiful creatures.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/6/24