- By Shivangi Sharma
- Thu, 05 Sep 2024 01:02 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Norwegian animal rights groups on Wednesday stated that a beluga whale, which gained attention in Norway due to its unusual harness leading to suspicions that it had been trained by Russia as a spy, was killed by gunfire
The organisations NOAH and One Whale reported that they have lodged a complaint with Norwegian police, requesting a criminal investigation into the matter.
The whale named Hvaldimir which captured the world's imagination in 2019 was found dead in Norway. The 14-foot-long and 2,700-pound whale was spotted with a harness seemingly designed for a camera five years ago, prompting the internet to nickname him Hvaldimir the spy whale.
Known as Hvaldimir—a play on the Norwegian word for whale, "hval," and the Russian president Vladimir Putin—the white beluga whale was first spotted in Norway’s far-northern Finnmark region in 2019. He was discovered deceased on Saturday in a bay on Norway’s southwestern coast.
On Monday, his body was sent to a local branch of the Norwegian Veterinary Institute for an autopsy. The results are anticipated "within three weeks", according to a spokesperson for the institute, as reported by The Guardian.
Marine Mind, another organisation that tracked the whale’s movements, reported discovering Hvaldimir’s body floating in the water on Saturday.
“There was no immediate indication of the cause of death,” director Sebastian Strand told AFP. “We observed some markings, but it’s too early to determine their significance.”
Strand noted that some of the markings might have been caused by marine birds, though other marks remain unexplained at this point. At an estimated age of 15 to 20, Hvaldimir was relatively young for a beluga whale, which typically lives between 40 and 60 years.
