Hvaldimir the ‘Russian spy whale’ turns up dead in suspicious circumstances
The tides of history stop for no man – or whale. Perhaps no one understood this tragic fact better than Hvaldimir, a beluga whale caught up in a tale of international espionage that might just have led to his untimely death.
On Saturday (August 31) Hvaldimir washed up in the harbour of Stavanger, a city in southwestern Norway, having resided in the area for the past year. According to a statement released by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries on Monday, the 14-foot, 27,000-pound beast was dead on arrival. However some have reason to believe that foul work is at play.
See, Hvaldimir was a suspected Russian “spy whale”. First spotted toward the north of Norway in April 2019, he wore a harness that read “Equipment St Petersburg” and what appeared to be a mount for a small camera. He also appeared to enjoy socialising with humans, playing fetch and performing for food, and was partial to being scratched around his blowhole.
This may sound cute, but many speculated that Hvaldimir’s charisma only served to shroud a heart of darkness, corrupted by totalitarian ideology. These people suggested he’d escaped from a military training camp in neighbouring Russia, where he was taught to undertake covert operations in international waters. His name bears traces of the conspiracy, consisting of the word “hval” (Norwegian for whale) mixed with Vladimir Putin’s first name.
The use of marine creatures for military purposes is well-documented (see: Russian military buys army of dolphins ‘with perfect teeth’) but the Kremlin never claimed Hvaldimir as their own. Then again, why would they? He could be captured and tortured – wet cloth over the blowhole, AI whale translator at the ready – for state secrets. Some more innocent theories suggested that Hvaldimir was actually a misunderstood “therapy whale”, who was simply caught in the crossfire of a John le Carré-style plot.
Either way, Hvaldimir is now dead, leaving behind many blubbering admirers. “The whale I knew and loved was a strong, capable and energetic animal yet so gentle, with a sweet and cheeky personality,” said OneWhale founder Regina Haug after seeing the body, in an interview with NBC. “It was gut-wrenching to see this beautiful animal now lifeless. It felt like my heart had fallen into my stomach.”
Haug, alongside others including the animal rights organisation NOAH, believes that there’s another twist in the tale. Following an initial autopsy of the body, the cause of Hvaldimir’s death was left unclear, and they believe that there’s “compelling evidence” that it was caused by “intentional human-inflicted injury” – more specifically, gunshot wounds. Adding to the suspicious circumstances is the fact that he was about 15 years old when he died, with other beluga whales living into their sixties and seventies in the wild.
In other words, it’s very possible that Hvaldimir was killed. Did he clash with a rival agent? Did he simply know too much? We may never know. The organisations hope, however, to get to the bottom of the cause of death via an ongoing autopsy, which will seek to determine whether he was punctured by bullets, or a few seagulls just had a peck as he floated into the harbour. Eyewitnesses have also been encouraged to come forward with any additional details.
In the meantime, we’d like to express our sorrow at the senseless loss of Hvaldimir’s life. Maybe he was acting under military orders; maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he was brainwashed. Ultimately, he was an innocent creature caught in the ebb and flow of history. Aren’t we all?
