A beluga whale who defected from Russia‘s Naval Army in 2019 may have found a new home in Norway.
The 2,700-pound whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, was believed to have been conducting military operations for Putin after locals found it wearing a harness that read ‘Equipment St. Petersburg’ while it slowly trailed boats.
Hvaldimir surfaced off the coast of Sweden last May, made its way up to the Svalbard region this month and marine biologists are now trying to integrate him into the wild.
The team at OneWhale hopes to introduce Hvaldimir to a pod of 500 to 600 beluga whales living in the Arctic waters that will be his forever home.
Russian spy whale, Hvaldimir, escaped from St. Petersburg, Russia before traversing the ocean to Norway, then Sweden and now has found a new home the Svalbard region this month
OneWhale has tried to work with the Norwegian government to integrate Hvaldimir into a nearby pod, and has just received the support needed to move forward
Russia has a long history of training dolphins for its war efforts, but marine biologists believe it has added whales to its arsenal.
Inge Wegge, Norwegian advisor to OneWhale, told Dailymail.com: ‘It started to become clearer how Russia was using these animals and that Hvaldimir had escaped just in time.’
Russia has never issued a formal response to Hvaldimir’s escape or accusations that its military is using beluga whales for its war efforts.
However, Russian reserve colonel Viktor Baranets said in a 2019 broadcast: ‘If we were using this animal for spying, do you really think we’d attach a mobile phone number with the message ‘Please call this number?’
When Hvaldimir first appeared in Norway’s Arctic in 2019, locals were warned t steer clear of the alleged marine spy.
Marine biologists from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries rushed to the seen and removed the attached man-made harness on the whale.
In an apparent giveaway, the harness clips read ‘Equipment St. Petersburg,’ adding to a theory that he was trained by the Russian navy
Hvaldimir was spotted off the coast of Norway in 2019. The whale would follow close to boats
Marine biologists believed Hvaldimir didn’t encounter a single other beluga whale during his travels
The harness had a mount suited for an action camera and the words ‘Equipment St. Petersburg’ printed on the plastic clasps.
Directorate officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure and had been trained by the Russian navy as it appeared to be accustomed to humans.
The whale then 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 on to Sweden.
Hvaldimir baffled scientists when he surfaced in Sweden, saying they didn’t believe the beluga had encountered another beluga whale since it escaped from Russia.
Researchers said it was plausible that the whale could have been looking for a mate.
The team at OneWhale hopes to introduce Hvaldimir to a pod of 500 to 600 wild beluga whales living in the Arctic waters
Hvaldimir is estimated to be between 12 and 20 years old and weighs 2,700 pounds
Regina Crosby Haug, who founded the nonprofit OneWhale, said that Hvaldimir’s escape into the wild could have been a death sentence, but she and her team stayed with him to ensure he survived.
‘After years of efforts… they [the Norwegian government] showed up for Hvaldimir,’ she said.
‘They came to the table, and ever since then, we have been working on a real, sustainable solution.
‘Norway showed us and the world they want Hvaldimir to live a long, natural life in the wild.’
Marine biologists believe the whale is somewhere between 12 and 20 years old, but it is so difficult to determine a beluga’s precise age because of their diverse aging patterns and varied growth and development.
The whales there are known for living in close-knit family pods and sharing and teaching each other languages.
The pod also exhibits highly social behavior which should give Hvaldimir ‘a very high chance of integrating and living a life with his species,’ Vinje told Dailymail.com.
