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Five years ago, a beluga whale made headlines when it was spotted off the coast of Norway equipped with a camera with links to Russia, and the story has taken another turn now that experts assert it was shot to death in the wake of the news of its passing.
Intelligence agencies around the globe have dreamed up some very unconventional ways to conduct espionage over the years, and a number of countries have managed to train animals that have executed missions intended to gather information.
That includes Russia, which has reportedly deployed dolphins tasked with roaming the waters near its military bases to detect enemy divers as part of a covert marine mammal program that’s also believed to have produced a beluga whale that made figurative waves thanks to what transpired toward the end of the previous decade.
In 2019, fishermen off the northern coast of Norway spotted a beluga sporting a GoPro strapped to a harness emblazoned with the words “Equipment of St. Petersburg,” which sparked an investigation that led to the country’s domestic intelligence agency determining it was an unwitting spy for Russia.
The whale—dubbed “Hvaldimir” (a portmanteau of “hval,” the Norwegian word for whale, and Vladimir Putin’s first name)—transformed into a bit of a celebrity after being detected, as tourists flocked to the area to observe the beluga that was closely monitored by officials who were worried about its ability to survive in the wild after seemingly being raised in captivity.
Hvaldimir was eventually able to figure out how to feed on his own and seemingly adjusted to life in the open ocean while frequently interacting with humans and occasionally roaming into Sweden. Unfortunately, his journey came to an end when his carcass was discovered off the coast of Norway on August 31st.
According to Business Insider, multiple animal rights groups assert foul play was involved after obtaining photos of Hvaldimir’s body, as OneWhale and NOAH filed a joint police report with Norwegian authorities after examining picture featuring bullet wounds they say are the cause of his death.
Representatives for both groups stressed there’s no evidence to link the shooting to any particular culprit, although it’s hard to ignore the fact that Hvaldimir’s death transpired less than a month after Russia added Norway to its list of countries that have purportedly committed “unfriendly” acts against its diplomats as tensions between the two nations (and the rest of Scandinavia) rise due to NATO alliances and energy supply disputes.