Whaledimir
On April 26, 2019, a beluga whale appeared near Tufjord, a village in northern Norway, immediately alarming fishermen in the area. Belugas in that part of the world typically inhabit the remote Arctic and are rarely spotted as far south as the Norwegian mainland. Although they occasionally travel solo, they tend to live and move in groups. This particular whale was entirely alone and unusually comfortable around humans, trailing boats and opening his mouth as though expecting to be fed. And he seemed to be tangled in rope.
When a commercial fisherman named Joar Hesten got a closer look, he realized that the whale was in fact wearing a harness: one strap girdling his neck and another gripping his torso just behind his flippers. Hesten contacted a local scientist, and word eventually reached the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, which dispatched an inspector, Jorgen Ree Wiig. After several failed attempts by Wiig and a colleague to free the beluga while onboard a dinghy, Hesten put on an immersion suit and plunged into the water. Though the whale was not quite as hefty as an average adult male of his species, he was still a formidable presence, by best estimates close to 14 feet long and about 2,700 pounds. Swimming beside him, Hesten managed to unclasp one of the straps. Together, they used a grappling-hook-like device to remove the rest of the stubborn harness.
A few days later, the beluga followed a boat to Hammerfest, one of the northernmost towns in the world, where he took up residence, frequently interacting with people in the harbor.
He became a celebrity…which is not really what you want for a whale.
He’d been spying for the Russkies.
The military conscription of a beluga whale might sound like a conceit plucked from less-than-convincing spy fiction, but it is actually a well-documented practice. Since the 1960s, Russia and the United States have trained dolphins, seals and other marine mammals to assist their naval forces by tagging enemy divers, detecting mines and recovering items from the seafloor. Satellite photos of Russian naval bases near Murmansk, not far from the spot where Norwegian fishermen first found Hvaldimir, reveal the type of sea pens often used to hold belugas. Audun Rikardsen, a professor of marine biology at the Arctic University of Norway, told me that international contacts have since confirmed that Hvaldimir belonged to the navy.
His future is uncertain and perilous.
H/t Harald Hanche-Olsen
Some aspects of this remind me of story of Luna, a young Southern Resident Killer Whale who became separated from his pod and took up residence in Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. He began approaching boats and people, apparently using them as a substitute for the companionship of his family. Fisheries officials tried to keep people away from him, but how do you stop a whale who wants to approach you?
There were plans to try to reunite Luna with his family, but these were opposed by a local First Nations community who believed that Luna was the reincarnation of a recently deceased chief.
In the end he was killed when he was drawn into the propeller of an idling tugboat. You can read more about him here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_(orca)
Some videos of Luna:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW5cpSl4RAw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRHKKuVCpHc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRHKKuVCpHc
I hope Hvaldimir’s story has a happier ending.
Ugh. Sad that the First Nations reincarnation bollocks was more important than Luna’s well-being and life.
Indeed. It’s not as far removed from the greed and selfishness that kept the last surviving captive Puget Sound Orca in a tiny tank in Florida for more than 50 years. In both instances, human desires were considered more important than the whales’ needs. You’d think that the First Nations would be a bit more sensitive to the fact (given the history of the residential school system with its forced removal of children from their parents and communities) that Luna should have been returned to his own family and community. Quite apart from their capacity to feel love and grief (which should have been reason enough), the Southern Resident Orcas’ dwindling numbers and genetic diversity need all help they can get.
It’s like someone finding a lost child in a shopping mall, but refusing to look for his or her parents because you think the child is the reincarnation of some dead relative. You’ve turned the child into a prop in your psychodrama. It’s motes and beams everywhere.
I wish I could speak whale and dolphin language and tell them not to make friends with humans, because those of your species who do so usually have a sticky end. There was a famous dolphin called Opo in New Zealand who played with children but was eventually found dead. She too was thought to be some kind of spirit by the local Maori.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opo_(dolphin)