The appearance of the beluga on the coasts of northern Norway caused a sensation in April 2019. Not that the natives had never seen these white cetaceans living in the Arctic Ocean. But this one was wearing a very curious harness marked “Equipment St Petersburg” for carrying a camera. Enough to fuel the wildest rumours, especially since the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries had estimated that the animal could be a spy in the pay of the Russians. If Moscow never confirmed and never claimed it, the Norwegians named it “ Hvaldimir” (a pun combining hval, “whale”, in Norwegian, and the first name of the master of the Kremlin).
Four years later, the beluga is once again making headlines after being spotted on May 28 near Hunnebostrand, between Oslo and Gothenburg, in the strait that separates Denmark from Norway and Sweden. Since then, it has continued to swim off the Swedish coast, descending ever lower to the south. On Sunday June 4, he was filmed near Gothenburg, in a particularly busy area with little fish, arousing the concern of the OneWhale association, created to help him.
The reasons for his southern wanderings remain an enigma for the moment. For four years, Hvaldimir had been swimming near salmon farms in Norwegian waters, watched almost around the clock by volunteers. “In the past two months, he has covered twice the distance he had traveled since arriving in Norway,” reveals documentary filmmaker Regina Crosby Haug, founder of OneWhale. Scientists estimate that the cetacean, aged about twelve years, could be looking for a female to mate or a group, being tired of living alone.
“Completely confused”
Of his story, we know almost nothing, except that his reactions indicate that he grew up in captivity, in contact with men, and that he was trained.
Where was he born and how did he escape? The mystery remains. “The problem is that he is completely disoriented and continues to search for the presence of humans,” alarmed veterinarian Siri Martinsen, director of the Norwegian association for the protection of animals NOAH and member of the board of directors of OneWhale. The NGO contacted the Norwegian and Swedish authorities to try to repatriate the whale to the Arctic. But everyone has in mind the failure of the rescue operation for another beluga in the Seine, in August 2022, during which he died.
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