Norway Butchers Friendly, Fat Walrus

“Euthanasia is out of the question,” said Frank Bakke-Jensen, Norway’s Director of Fisheries just a couple of weeks ago, referring to Freya, the 1300-pound walrus who spent much of the summer swimming and sunbathing around Oslo marinas. But that turned out to be a lie, because the authorities just put poor Freya down, claiming that her presence put humans at risk.

Officials said that Freya would sometimes chase people on paddle boards and kayaks, though no violent encounters between walrus and humans were reported. Why not move her to a less populated area? “Too high risk,” authorities said, though they did not elaborate. 

Freya had been known to flop her prodigious girth onto small boats moored in the marinas, causing damage and an occasional sinking. We wonder if annoyed boat owners influenced her killers. Even more, we wonder just why the marine authorities couldn’t be bothered to restrain the crowds who came to gawk at the unusual visitor.  

The drastic action to kill Freya does not come across as a last resort so much as an act of cruelty to end an annoyance. “Many other options should’ve been tried before killing her,” Rune Aae, a biologist at the University of South-Eastern Norway who had been tracking Freya’s movement, wrote on Facebook. “Euthanasia was, in my view, completely unnecessary.”

Humans have a special responsibility to safeguard wildlife, even when it inconveniences us. The Norwegian authorities in charge blew it, and Freya paid the price.

We look forward to a full investigation.