Hell Awaits Whoever Shot Hvaldimir the Friendly Spy Whale

Hvaldimir, the friendly beluga whale outfitted with a mysterious Russian harness was found dead this week in the harbor of Stavanger, a city in southwestern Norway. 

Advocacy groups OneWhale and NOAH believe the beloved whale was shot dead, and the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries says it will conduct an autopsy. 

“I have been with Hvaldimir for the past five years and know him very well,” OneWhale founder Regina Haug said in a press release. “When I saw his body and the multiple injuries, I immediately knew he had been killed by gunshots. I even saw a bullet lodged in his body. There is no question that this kind, gentle animal was senselessly murdered.”

Hvaldimir was first spotted in Norwegian waters in 2019, where he was seen wearing a harness that read “Equipment St. Petersburg” and what looked like a camera mount, which prompted speculation he had been trained by the Russian military for espionage. His name is a portmanteau of hval, the Norwegian word for whale, and Vladimir, as in Putin.

The 14-foot, 2,700-pound whale was highly sociable and photogenic. Hvaldimir was estimated to be between 15 and 20 years old, which is not even middle aged for a beluga whale, which can live to be 60.

Making the tragedy even more galling is that OneWhale and NOAH had been working to establish a marine sanctuary for the whale, with a plan to move him to remote and safe waters in northern Norway where he could have hung out with other belugas. The Fisheries department had issued permits for the move and it was only a matter of time – and a fair amount of red tape – that Hvaldimir would have been out of harm’s way.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever shot this lovable creature. The Norwegian Veterinary Institute says it will complete an autopsy report within three weeks.

Photo credit: OneWhale.org