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Hvaldimir, the Whale Who Went AWOL
Hvaldimir near a salmon farm in the fjords off the coast of Stavanger, Norway, in Nov.Credit...Conor McDonnell
The Great Read
Hvaldimir escaped captivity and became a global celebrity. Now, no one can agree about what to do with him.
Hvaldimir near a salmon farm in the fjords off the coast of Stavanger, Norway, in Nov.Credit...Conor McDonnell
- Published Jan. 14, 2024Updated Jan. 18, 2024
On April 26, 2019, a beluga whale appeared near Tufjord, a village in northern Norway, immediately alarming fishermen in the area. Belugas in that part of the world typically inhabit the remote Arctic and are rarely spotted as far south as the Norwegian mainland. Although they occasionally travel solo, they tend to live and move in groups. This particular whale was entirely alone and unusually comfortable around humans, trailing boats and opening his mouth as though expecting to be fed. And he seemed to be tangled in rope.
When a commercial fisherman named Joar Hesten got a closer look, he realized that the whale was in fact wearing a harness: one strap girdling his neck and another gripping his torso just behind his flippers. Hesten contacted a local scientist, and word eventually reached the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, which dispatched an inspector, Jorgen Ree Wiig. After several failed attempts by Wiig and a colleague to free the beluga while onboard a dinghy, Hesten put on an immersion suit and plunged into the water. Though the whale was not quite as hefty as an average adult male of his species, he was still a formidable presence, by best estimates close to 14 feet long and about 2,700 pounds. Swimming beside him, Hesten managed to unclasp one of the straps. Together, they used a grappling-hook-like device to remove the rest of the stubborn harness.
A few days later, the beluga followed a boat to Hammerfest, one of the northernmost towns in the world, where he took up residence, frequently interacting with people in the harbor. News of the friendly white whale spread quickly. In early May, a video of the beluga went viral, eventually earning a spot on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” In it, several young women stand on a dock in Hammerfest, speaking excitedly with their hands outstretched just above the water. The beluga levitates to the surface in an upright position, as smooth, plump and silent as a balloon. There is something in his mouth — something rectangular. “Oh, my God!” one woman exclaims as the whale returns a smartphone her friend dropped in the sea. The women cheer and caress the whale, whose mouth continues to hang open. Later viral videos would show him stealing (and returning) a kayaker’s GoPro and playing fetch with a rugby ball. By midsummer, he had become an international celebrity, drawing large groups of tourists.
Image
After escaping captivity, Hvaldimir took up residence in Hammerfest, Norway, where he quickly became an international celebrity.Credit...Joakim Eskildsen/Institute, for The New York Times
All the while, marine experts had been speculating about the whale’s origin. Clearly this animal had spent time in captivity — but where? The first major clues came from the harness: One of its plastic buckles was embossed with the words “Equipment St. Petersburg.” And it appeared to have a camera mount, hinting at reconnaissance of some kind. The beluga also knew how to closely follow boats and had a habit of wrapping rope around propellers, which could suggest specialized training. As several experts told media outlets at the time, the whale had most likely escaped from the nearby Russian Navy. Based on a poll of more than 25,000 respondents, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation christened the beluga Hvaldimir, a portmanteau of hval, the Norwegian word for whale, and the Russian name Vladimir.
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