A marine scientist claims to have knowledge of Hvaldimir’s mysterious past. Photo: Norwegian Orca Survey
Back in 2019, a beluga whale took the internet by storm. It was found off the coast of Norway with a Russian harness on, and strangely enough, it was friendly. The harness had the words “Equipment St. Petersburg” written on it. Earlier this year, however, the whale, named Hvaldimir, sadly died. Hvaldimir is a bit of a portmanteau for the Norwegian word for whale, hvald, and Russian president Vladimir Putin. Now, a scientist has claimed that it was in training to guard a Kremlin military base.
It was theorized that the beluga might have been a Russian spy — which, even to the most conspiracy minded person, seemed a little far fetched. Although the Russian Navy has trained whales for military purposes, Russian authorities neither confirmed nor denied if they trained Hvalidimir.
But Dr. Olga Shpak, who researched marine mammals from the early ’90s to 2022, told the BBC that Hvalidimir was, “100 percent” trained by the Russian military.
Shpak went on to say that she believes the whale escaped from a naval base in the Arctic Circle, but escaped because it was a “hooligan.”
According to reports, Dr. Shpak’s theory comes from conversations she had with former colleagues. She told her story in a new a BBC documentary called Secrets of the Spy Whale, which is on BBC iPlayer and being shown on BBC Two.
Hvaldimir’s first appearance came when it swam up to a fishing boat. “The whale starts rubbing against the boat,” Joar Hesten, one of the fishermen, said. “I heard about animals in distress that instinctively knew that they need help from humans. I was thinking that this is one smart whale.”
Hesten helped take the harness off the beluga whale. It then spent the next few months in the nearby port of Hammerfest, where it became something of a celebrity. “Seemingly unable to catch live fish to eat,” the BBC wrote, “it charmed visitors by nudging at their cameras and even on one occasion returning a mobile phone.”
Although Dr Shpak didn’t name her sources in Russia for obvious reasons, she recounted that she was told that Russian authorities immediately knew the whale was one of theirs as soon as news broke that it was found.
“Through the chain of vets and trainers the message came back – that they were missing a beluga called Andruha,” she said. Dr. Shpak explained that Hvaldimir, nee Andruha, was captured in 2013 in the Sea of Okhotsk. It spent a year in captivity in an aquarium in St. Petersburg before moving to a military base in the Arctic.
“I believe that when they started to work in open water, trusting this animal (not to swim away), the animal just gave up on them,” Dr. Shkak explained. “What I’ve heard from the guys at the commercial dolphinarium who used to have him was that Andruha was smart, so a good choice to be trained. But at the same time, he was kind of like a hooligan – an active beluga – so they were not surprised that he gave up on (following) the boat and went where he wanted to.”
When Hvaldimir was found dead, animal rights activists were immediately suspicious, even claiming that it was killed. Activist groups OneWhale and NOAH filed a police report saying that it had been shot.
“When I saw his body and the multiple injuries, I immediately knew he had been killed by gunshots,” said OneWhale founder Regina Haug in a press release. “I even saw a bullet lodged in his body. There is no question that this kind, gentle animal was senselessly murdered. We will pursue justice for Hvaldimir and hope that someone comes forward with information about his killing.”
Soon after, however, an autopsy was done and it was found conclusively that Hvaldimir hadn’t been shot. Instead, it died after a stick got lodged in its mouth. Since it can’t be known for certain what Hvaldimir’s background is until the Russian government decides to clear the air, this might be the closest we’ll get to learning the truth.
