Hvaldimir
I didn’t know about this guy:
A beluga whale that turned up in Norway wearing a harness in 2019, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has reappeared off Sweden’s coast.
First discovered in Norway’s far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and move on to Sweden.
On Sunday [May 22, 2023], he was observed in Hunnebostrand, off Sweden’s south-western coast.
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Norwegians nicknamed him Hvaldimir – a pun on whale in Norwegian, hval, and a nod to its alleged association with Russia.
When the whale first appeared in the Norwegian Arctic, marine biologists from the Norwegian directorate of fisheries removed a human-made harness from him.
And the reason I learned of his existence is a reunion with one of those marine biologists:
A tender moment between “Spy Beluga” “Hvaldimir” and fisherman Joar Hesten, is shared in this photograph, which was given finalist status in the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards.
Hesten was the one who freed Hvaldimir from the military camera harness he had been wearing when he suddenly showed up in northern Norway in April 2019. During that summer and autumn, Hensten visited the whale, looked after it, and discussed with local fisherman how they could best protect it.
5 weeks ago, Hvaldimir, who comes and goes as he pleases, was in Sórfold Norway appearing fit and active. He has been there since November, according to locals who keep an eye on him.
The chronology is confusing, but anyway, I like the affectionate reunion. I’m a sucker for affectionate reunions of this kind.
Ah yes, everybody in Norway knows Hvaldimir. If not in person, he is at least quite a celebrity here. It’s been a long while since last time I heard about him, though. Perhaps he is not considered newsworthy anymore?
People used to worry about him, living a solitary life like that. Also, he would often show up in harbours, with all the associated dangers of spinning propellers and the like. I am glad to hear he seems to thrive.
Last year, we had a walrus visiting our waters. She was named Freya, after the Norse goddess of love and beauty. She liked to nap aboard boats, and caused quite a bit of damage that way. However, that was not the reason she met with a tragic end. Rather, people just could not, or would not, stay away, which caused considerable stress for her. Not to mention the danger to those people. Even a big walrus is a big animal, and you really don’t want physical contact with one. She ended up being shot by the authorities due to safety concerns. This was hugely controversial as you might expect. But there was no safe way to relocate her, so it was either that or just accepting the risks.
My sister, who lives on the southern coast, got to see Freya taking a nap on a floating dock. She sent me some video. It made me really jealous.
I have just finished re-reading Moby Dick. Almost a shame it didn’t end as in the photograph, with Ahab & the whale making peace with each other.
Aww I’ve just had a look for my terrible footage on my phone of Wally the Walrus, who squatted on the life-boat ramp in Tenby for about 6 weeks, before going off to sink boats in the Scilly Isles for a bit of a change. It’s even worse than I remembered, just a blob on the water as he watched a boat go by. But hey, I saw a walrus in the wild! And I live in Wales! Wouldn’t have expected that, ever. People were warned to stay away from him for their own safety and to avoid causing him stress, but that seemed kind of moot once the footage of the life-boat crew trying to shift him off the slipway by tooting airhorns at him came out. He seemed to find the humans amusing. It appears that he eventually found his way back home, or at least was last seen heading the right way, so a happy ending for him at least.