The celebrity whale Hvaldimir is dead – adressa.no

– Unfortunately, he was found dead today. There are no major injuries to him, but we will have it investigated further, says Strand NRK.

This is also confirmed by the maritime coordinator in the Port of Stavanger region, Fredrik Skarbøvik VG.

– We took him up now. I can confirm that he is dead, unfortunately, says Skarbøvik to the newspaper.

– Right now he is lying on a truck.

Accused of being a Russian spy whale

The white whale appeared at Hammerfest in Norway in 2019, wearing what appeared to be a mount for a small camera, marked “Equipment St. Petersburg”.

It sparked a rumor that it was a Russian spy whale, as Russia’s navy has a tradition of training whales for military purposes. The news went around the world.

The spy rumor led to the whale being called Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word whale and the name of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.

It has also been speculated whether Hvaldimir could be a therapy whale.

Enjoyed playing with people

Since 2019, Hvaldimir has been observed in a number of Norwegian coastal towns. After he was released outside Hammerfest, the white whale remained in the area.

It quickly became clear that he was very tame. Among other things, he came swimming if he was called, liked to be scratched around the blowhole and liked to play with people.

An incident in which Hvaldimir dived to the bottom of the sea to retrieve a mobile phone for a young person who had lost it in the water went around the world.

Several close encounters with humans led to him becoming a familiar figure along the coast, and many people traveled from far away, as far as Australia, to get up close and personal with the beluga.

Plagued by disease

After a while in Hammerfest, however, Hvaldimir became ill and thin, and concerns were raised as to whether he would make it. The whale swam all the way down to the Oslofjord, but did not thrive there either.

His health improved somewhat after he swam to Ryfylkefjorden last year, but the interest organization One Whale has still worked for over a year to get the famous whale moved.

They were initially refused to move him to Svalbard, but the Directorate of Fisheries later turned around and allowed the whale to be moved to the Varangerfjord in Finnmark. However, it has been contrary to the advice of several professionals.