The thriller of why a Russian beluga whale, which appeared years in the past off the coast of Norway, was wearing a harness and referred to as a “spy”, could have lastly been solved, the BBC reported.
A marine skilled believes that the animal did escape from a Russian navy base, however it’s unlikely to have been a spy.
The tame beluga first made headlines in 2019 when it approached fishermen off Norway’s northern coast sporting a harness, sparking hypothesis that it was an escaped Russian “spy whale”.
In keeping with the account of one of many fishermen on the time, the animal started to rub in opposition to their boat. He stated he had heard of animals in misery that instinctively knew they wanted assist from people and thought it was “one good whale”.
Fishermen assist the beluga free from the harness, after which it swims to the close by port of Hammerfest, the place it lives for a number of months.
Native residents name the animal Hvaldimir – a mix of the Norwegian phrase for whale – hval – and the Russian title Vladimir, BTA provides.
Seemingly unable to catch dwell fish to eat, the beluga charmed guests by poking at their cameras and even in a single case returned a cellular phone.
Fascinated by the story of the whale, Norway is taking steps to have it watched and fed.
Now Dr. Olga Shpak, an skilled on the species, says she believes the whale was certainly owned by the navy and escaped from a naval base within the Arctic Circle. Nonetheless, she doesn’t imagine that the beluga was a spy.
Shpak believes that she was educated to protect the bottom and escaped as a result of she was a “bully”.
Russia has at all times refused to verify or deny that the whale was educated by its navy.
However Dr Shpak, who labored in Russia researching marine mammals from the Nineteen Nineties till returning to her native Ukraine in 2022, instructed BBC Information: “For me it’s 100 per cent (actually )”.
Olga Shpak, whose account is predicated on conversations with mates and former colleagues in Russia, options within the BBC documentary Secrets and techniques of the Spy Whale, which is now on BBC iPlayer and was broadcast on BBC Two.
Dr. Shpak doesn’t need to title her sources in Russia for their very own security, however says she was instructed that when the beluga surfaced in Norway, the Russian marine mammal neighborhood instantly recognized it as certainly one of theirs. Then, alongside the chain of vets and trainers, it was reported concerning the absence of an animal named Andrukha.
In keeping with Dr. Shpak, Andrukha/Hvaldimir was first captured in 2013 within the Sea of Okhotsk within the Russian Far East. A 12 months later, he was transferred from a facility owned by a dolphinarium in St. Petersburg to the navy program within the Russian Arctic, the place his trainers and vets saved in contact.
“I believe after they began working in open water, trusting this animal (to not swim away), it simply gave up on them,” she says.
Shpak realized from her sources that Andrukha was good, so he was a sensible choice for coaching. On the identical time, the whale was one thing of a “hooligan” – an lively beluga, so that they weren’t stunned that he refused to observe the boat and went the place he needed.
Satellite tv for pc photos from the Murmansk area within the Russian Arctic present whales that look like belugas in enclosures close to a naval base.
“The situation of the whales very near submarines and floor ships could counsel that they’re really a part of a safety system,” stated Thomas Nielsen of the Norwegian on-line newspaper The Barents Observer.
Sadly, the superb story of Hvaldimir/Andruha doesn’t have a cheerful ending. After studying to feed by itself, it spent a number of years touring south alongside the coast of Norway, and in Could 2023 was even noticed off the coast of Sweden.
Then on September 1, 2024, his physique was discovered floating within the sea close to the city of Risavika, on the southwest coast of Norway.
Though some activist teams have advised that the whale was shot, this rationalization has been rejected by Norwegian police. She reported that there was nothing to counsel that human exercise was the reason for the beluga’s demise. The post-mortem discovered that Hvaldimir/Andrukha died after a stick was caught in his mouth.
Illustrative Photograph by Diego F. Parra: https://www.pexels.com/photograph/a-beluga-whale-swimming-underwater-24243994/