An group keeping track of a harness-wearing Beluga whale that surfaced in
Norway in 2019 and sparked rumors that it was a spy trained by the Russian
military has surfaced near the coast of Sweden, the organization stated on
Monday.
The whale was first spotted in Finnmark, a remote area of far-northern
Norway, and it spent more than three years slowly traveling down the top
half of the Norwegian coastline before abruptly accelerating in recent
months to cover the bottom half and continue to Sweden.
He was seen on Sunday at Hunnebostrand, off the southwest coast of
Sweden.
Since he is currently going "very quickly away from his natural
environment," Sebastian Strand, a marine scientist with the
OneWhale group, told
AFP, "We don't know why he has sped up so fast."
"Hormones could be pushing him to locate a partner. He could be looking for
other Beluga whales, as they are a particularly gregarious species, or it
might just be because he's lonely.
According to Strand, the whale is "at an age where his hormones are very
high" and is thought to be 13 to 14 years old.
The Svalbard island in Norway's extreme north is home to the nearest colony
of beluga whales, though.
Since the whale arrived in Norway in April 2019, it is thought that it has
not even glimpsed a single Beluga.
The Norwegians dubbed it "Hvaldimir" in reference to its supposed ties to Russia and as a play on the
Norwegian term for "whale," hval.
Marine researchers from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries removed an
attached synthetic harness when he initially surfaced in Norway's
Arctic.
The plastic clasps of the harness were imprinted with "Equipment St.
Petersburg" and contained a mount for an action camera.
According to Directorate authorities, Hvaldimir may have escaped from a
cage and been taught by the Russian navy because it seemed habituated to
people.
His potential status as a "Russian spy" was raised by the Norwegian
government, but Moscow never responded officially.
Western and Russian submarine movements are seen in the Barents Sea, a
strategically important geopolitical region.
Additionally, it serves as the entry point to the Northern Route, which
speeds up nautical trips between the Atlantic and Pacific seas.
While consuming wild fish underneath Norway's salmon farms, Strand reported
that the whale's health "seemed to be very good" in recent years.
However, his organization had already seen considerable weight loss and was
worried about Hvaldimir's capacity to get food in Sweden.
Beluga whales typically live between 40 and 60 years old and may grow as
large as six meters (20 feet). They are found in the frigid waters between
Greenland, northern Norway, and Russia.
