• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Russian Spy Whale Moving To Hammerfest, And Yes That Is The Most Epic Headline We’ve Written In A While

November 9, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

News about potential Russian military recruits fleeing the country for safer, more peaceful climes is hardly rare at the moment. One such story, though, has already found a happy ending – as Hvaldimir, a beluga whale named for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now hoping to live out his retirement in a 500-acre aquatic sanctuary in the Norwegian fjords.

“Everybody has fallen in love with this whale from YouTube viral videos,” Adam Thorpe, a former property mogul who was so moved by Hvaldimir’s story that he decided to get involved with the charity OneWhale, told The Guardian. This group, originally founded by Norway-based filmmaker Regina Crosby, now funds the protection and monitoring of the ex-pat cetacean, who first turned up in 2019 wearing a harness that labeled him “equipment of St Petersburg” – leading some to suspect the cheeky beluga of being an escapee Russian military asset. 

Advertisement

“I read about him in the National Geographic in 2019, and found it concerning. He has clearly been domesticated and has a wonderful personality. I thought, well, if we could create a sanctuary or a reserve, which protects the whale from boat traffic, it means that he can fish for himself and live as natural a life as possible.”

So the group did just that. After seeking the advice of American activist Ric O’Barry, a former dolphin trainer who has spent decades campaigning against keeping dolphins and whales in captivity, the group decided to swim Hvaldimir into one of the many disused fjords that run through the north European country. 

Their hope, Crosby told the BBC last year, was to create “an enormous, open-water marine wildlife reserve” in a fjord at least two kilometers (1.2 miles) long and one kilometer (0.6 miles) wide, with accommodation and facilities for staff to monitor the renegade beluga.

Advertisement

A few towns expressed interest in housing the adorable Russian defector. However, it was Hammerfest – the epically named town where Hvaldimir first set fin – which, assuming funds are secured, will soon be home to the world’s first open-water whale sanctuary and its resident ex-spy. 

If all goes well, Hvaldimir may not be alone in his new paradise: “By telling the story of this whale we can also offer a reserve to other formerly captive whales,” Thorpe said. “There are no salmon farms on the reserve and there are no boats coming in and out, eliminating the risk of propeller injuries.”

The idea wasn’t without controversy. Keeping an animal in a closed-off fjord would “not [be] a Norwegian thing to do,” Jørgen Ree Wiig, from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, told the BBC. That said, Norway’s recent track record with wild animals includes highlights such as killing Freya the Walrus back in August and a few hundred whales last year alone – so the confirmation that Hvaldimir might soon be getting a dedicated fjord of his own is welcome news for many.

Advertisement

“The folks in Hammerfest not only stepped up for Hvaldimir out of their love for him, but have committed to creating a home for other whales in need,” One Whale reported in a recent press release. 

“To have all of this happen before the end of the year was nothing short of a miracle in many ways, and is a testament to how much Hvaldimir is valued and loved.”

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Turkey mutually parts ways with head coach Senol Gunes
  2. China Evergrande shares slide 6% in early trade
  3. Japan approaching end of COVID-19 emergency in most areas – health minister
  4. Daily Crunch: Sora selected as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s final DLC character

Source Link: Russian Spy Whale Moving To Hammerfest, And Yes That Is The Most Epic Headline We've Written In A While

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Adorable Boxer Crabs Filmed “Cloning” Their Living Anemone Gloves For The First Time
  • Watch An Adorable Little Crab Hitch A Ride On A Mosaic Jellyfish Through The Gulf Of Thailand
  • COVID Vaccines Saved An Incredible 2.5 Million Lives In The First 4 Years Of The Pandemic
  • NASA Has Made A Sizable Error In Lunar And Martian Physics, Study Suggests
  • Disappearing Stars In The 1950s Associated With UAPs And Nuclear Weapons Tests
  • These Are The “New Seasons” Scientists Think Are Emerging Because Of Climate Change
  • Sharks And Rays Have The Oldest Vertebrate Sex Chromosomes – And They’re Like No One Else’s
  • Extremely Rare Black Hole Type Caught Snacking On A Star 450 Million Light-Years Away
  • Extremely Rare Asian Golden Cat Captured On Camera Trap Slinking Through Thai Forest
  • Around 720 Million Years Ago, Our Planet Turned Into A Snowball Earth – Is This Why?
  • New Excitonic Quantum State Of Matter Could Lead To Radiation-Proof Self-Charging Computers
  • “Remarkable” New Species Of 340-Million-Year-Old Ancient Shark Discovered In World’s Longest Cave System
  • Non-Hormonal Male Birth Control Pill With No Side Effects Smashes Early Trial
  • JWST Reveals Dust Being Destroyed In The Galaxy’s Most Extreme Colliding-Wind Binary
  • Are There Body Parts You Can Live Without? Find Out More In Issue 37 Of CURIOUS – Out Now
  • New Study Unearths Humanity’s “Hidden” Crossings Out Of Africa
  • Trichonephila Clavipes: The Spider That Spins “Golden” Silk
  • The Southern Delta Aquariids And Alpha Capricornids Meteor Showers Will Dazzle The Skies Together Soon
  • Virus Found In Black-Eyed Pea Plants Could Be Used To Treat Cancer
  • Many People Have No Idea Where Oil Actually Comes From. It’s Not Dinosaurs
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version