Since it was first spotted in the waters of the Norwegian Arctic in 2019, the whale has been a source for scenarios of every imagination. And the latest development, with the death of the cetus, may give birth to new ones.
A strange belt he was wearing, when first spotted, equipped with a mount for a small camera, and a text in English “Equipment St. Petersburg” on the plastic straps of the belt, gave rise to suspicions that the whale was being used by the Russian Navy for espionage.
Hence the name “Hvaldimir”, given to this white whale,[arisingfromapunconnectingthewordwhale(hvalinNorwegian)andthecommonRussianfirstname(Vladimir)[πουπροέκυψεαπόέναλογοπαίγνιοπουσυνδέειτηλέξηφάλαινα(χβαλστανορβηγικά)καιτοσυνηθισμένορωσικόμικρόόνομα(Βλαντίμιρ)
Moscow has never officially commented on the speculation.
Khvaldimir, who was young in age and in good health, according to biologists monitoring her, was found dead on Saturday off the southwest coast in Risavika. The lifeless whale was taken on Monday to a local branch of the Norwegian Veterinary Institute for a necropsy.
An autopsy report is expected “within the next three weeks,” an institute spokeswoman said.
“She had multiple gunshot wounds to her body,” Regina Crosby Haug, who said she saw the whale’s body, told AFP.
Animal rights groups NOAH and One Whale have announced that they have filed a complaint with Norwegian police to launch a “criminal investigation” into the case.
Ms. Crosby Haug runs One Whale, an mco set up specifically to track the movements of “Hvaldimir,” who has become famous in Norway.
“The whale’s injuries are alarming and cannot rule out criminal activity,” said NOAH head Siri Martinsen.
“In the face of suspicion of criminal activity, it is important that the police intervene quickly,” he added.
A third mco, Marine Mind, a competitor of One Whale, said it found Hvaldi dead on Saturday around 12:30 p.m. local time.
“Nothing is yet clear about the cause of death,” marine biologist Sebastian Strand, founder of Marine Mind, told AFP.
“We’ve seen signs, but it’s too early to tell.”
According to him, some of the markings probably came from predatory seabirds, however others remain unexplained at this stage.
Beluga whales usually live much further north, near Greenland, or in the waters of the Russian or Norwegian Arctic.
The Barents Sea and the North Atlantic are strategic areas for the Navies of both Russia and Western countries, an area that is a common contact zone for their submarines.
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#Russian #spy #whale #killed
