Hvaldimir, the late white whale that sought human companionship all along the coast of Norway for several years, is now believed to have died from a bacterial infection. Final autopsy results confirm that he was not shot, as earlier suspected.
The Norwegian Veterinary Institute has concluded that the white beluga whale rather may have been a victim of his own interaction with people, who sometimes played with him by throwing sticks in the water that he’d fetch. Veterinarians found a sore inside the whale’s mouth where a large stick measuring 35 centimeters long and three centimeters wide had become stuck, also making it difficult for the whale to eat. The whale’s stomach was also found to be empty.
The autopsy was made more difficult because many of the whale’s internal organs were rotten, according to Amund Preede Revheim of the Southwest Police District. That suggests the whale suffered both infection and starvation.
The autopsy was performed as part of a police investigation after the celebrity whale was suddenly found floating dead off Tananger in Rogaland on August 31. His carcass was scarred, also with holes that were still bleeding when he was hoisted out of the water and which looked like bullet holes.
Veterinarians now conclude that they instead were superficial sores probably made by birds that had landed on the whale’s carcass and pecked holes to eat off his remains. Nor did the holes extend beyond the whale’s blubber or affect any of his organs.
“There is nothing in the examinations that suggests Hvaldimir was illegally put to death,” Revheim stated in a press release on Friday. He added that police see no reason to pursue an investigation and have closed the case.
It remained a sad ending for a popular whale that made his first appearance when he started following a fishing boat off Northern Norway in 2019. He bore straps that included a reference to St Petersburg, leading many to believe he had been trained in captivity in Russia. Debate initially flew over whether the whale had been trained for espionage or sabotage, or whether he was used as part of therapy for depressed Russians. Officials in Russia, meanwhile, remained mum.
It only took days, meanwhile, before he started being called Hvaldimir: ‘Hval’ is the Norwegian word for whale and the rest was a playful reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was, after all, three years before Putin invaded Ukraine and instantly lost any respect or popularity that he may have once had in Norway.
The name stuck, though, as Hvaldimir continued surfacing in harbours and along the coast, even as far south as Denmark before heading north again. Researchers remained worried about whether he’d survive outside captivity, the public was urged to stop playing with him and efforts were launched to return Hvaldimir to colder Arctic waters where he might find his place with other whales in the free.
That didn’t happen, and both whale watchers and marine organizations that tracked and tried to help him were saddened by his death. “I’m glad so much work has gone into this and that we now have an answer for his death,” marine biologist Sebastian Strand of the organizaiton Marine Mind told state broadcaster NRK. “We will continue our marine work. Hvaldimir has inspired us.”
He inspired many others and he won’t be forgotten: Hvaldimir’s remains including his skeleton have already been sent to the Naturmuseum in Kristiansand on Norway’s southern coast. There they’ll be reassembled and put on public display, according to researcher Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller at the University of Agder.
The idea is for Hvaldimir to live on forever: “His story shall be told,” Havmøller tld NRK.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund