The celebrity beluga whale Hvaldimir, once thought to have been harnessed by Russia for military intelligence activities and closely followed by the Norwegian public over the past five years, has died suddenly.
His death, the cause of which is unknown, comes on the eve of his being relocated, in a plan that had divided the environmental conservationists who had championed his cause over the years.
With the whale-support bodies OneWhale and more recently Marine Mind usually tracking Hvaldimir’s movements, he was last seen alive, in apparently good condition and diving at regular intervals, yesterday morning (30 August) off the coast of south-western Norway near Stavanger.
The Coast Guard had been informed, to ensure that marine traffic was aware of Hvaldimir’s presence, but the white whale was later seen floating at the surface for an extended period, and a patrol boat arrived at about 2.30pm to find that he was dead.
A fishing-boat towed Hvaldimir to Risavika harbour, where he was hoisted out of the water and loaded onto a truck by the port authority pending arrangements for an necropsy. Hvaldimir was more than 4m long and reckoned to weigh more than 1,200kg.
Cause of death was unclear, according to Sebastian Strand, the marine biologist who started Marine Mind and found that Hvaldimir had died. He said that there were marks on the body but they could have been caused by other wildlife after death.
‘Equipment St Petersburg’
Hvaldimir became famous when he was found by fishermen at Hammerfest in northern Norway in April 2019. Wearing a tight harness marked “Equipment St Petersburg”, apparently designed to hold a camera, it was supposed that he had been primed to be an underwater spy for the Russian military.
Comfortable with people, the friendly beluga appeared to have spent much of his life in captivity. He was dubbed Hvaldimir, though later generally referred to in Scandinavia as Hvaldi (hval is Norwegian for whale) to avoid any connections with Russia’s president, and the harness was removed.
Beluga whales are normally found in the remote Arctic but Hvaldimir seemed content to remain in busier and warmer North Sea waters, last year even venturing as far south as south-western Sweden, prompting further concerns for his safety.
The charity OneWhale had been formed early on to protect Hvaldimir, with the intention of creating a safe whale reserve for him and other released captive mammals.
In July this year it announced that Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries had given permission for Hvaldimir to be relocated back in Arctic waters at Varangerfjord, Finnmark, near a wild pod with which he might later be integrated. Flights were already said to have been arranged when Hvaldimir’s death was announced.
However a number of marine biologists had earlier argued that such a move would endanger the whale’s welfare and had broken away to form Marine Mind. The rift had been reflected in the Norwegian press.
‘Not a natural death’
“We don’t know the manner of death yet but he was in heavily trafficked waters… so we expect it was not a natural death,” stated OneWhale founder Regina Haug following the news of Hvaldimir’s death.
The charity, which carried out annual health-checks on the beluga, had described Hvaldimir as “a healthy young whale with no signs of illness”. The usual life-expectancy of a beluga whale is reckoned to be 35 to 50 years. “We have asked the Norwegian authorities to provide a necropsy and they have stepped up to do this,” said Haug.
“We are heartbroken. We are angry, too, as we have had to fight so hard, for so long to help him out of danger. And he was finally so close to having a better life.
“But we are angry at those who worked to block his move and spread misinformation… there are a handful [of] humans who wanted to keep him trapped, and prevent this sweet animal from getting help sooner.”
“We would prefer not to talk about human rifts in a time of mourning Hvaldimir,” Strand told Divernet. “People had different ideas of how to best safeguard him, and we arrived to a point of knowing we could no longer be associated with OneWhale due to differences in principles.
“From initial inspections there was no obvious cause of death. I’m heartbroken; he meant more than I can put into words, to me, to the team, and to thousands of people whose lives he had profoundly impacted.
“For now, we work toward a final dignity of making sure he is kept well and examined so his death will not be a mystery. But no matter what now, a beloved friend of many is gone.”
Also on Divernet: Hvaldimir the ‘spy’ beluga dashes for Sweden, Diver uses drone to capture white whale images, Beluga speaks dolphin to fit in, Russia reinforces anti-diver dolphin squad
