‘Russian Spy’ Beluga Whale Reportedly Killed Mysteriously By Gunshot Wounds

On Wednesday, marine non-profits NOAH and OneWhale filed a police report that Hvaldimir, the beloved beluga whale and alleged Russian spy, was killed by gunfire.

The whale, first seen in 2019, made frequent appearances along the coast of Norway over the years and was known to wear a harness with mounts for a camera and an inscription that read “Equipment St. Petersburg.” This sparked the theory that the beluga had escaped from a Russian military facility, and he became affectionately known as “Hvaldimir,” his name a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, “Hval,” and Vladimir Putin.

Hvaldimir was found dead last weekend in the harbor of Stavanger.

Although marine biologist Sebastian Strang had initially reported Hvaldimir’s cause of death to be unclear, with no external injuries visible, OneWhale and NOAH have claimed there was “compelling evidence suggesting that Hvaldimir’s death was caused by intentional human-inflicted injury” and shared photos on Instagram of the alleged whale’s lifeless body with bloody purported bullet holes.

In the Instagram post, OneWhale wrote, “Several veterinarians, biologists, and ballistics experts have reviewed [the] evidence of Hvaldimir’s injuries, determining that the whale’s death was the result of a criminal act.”

An autopsy is in process and will likely take weeks to yield any information. In a statement, the Norwegian Veterinary Institute said: “We have, together with the Directorate of Fisheries of Norway, been in contact with the police ahead of the autopsy and will, of course, involve them if we uncover anything indicating anything suspicious.” 

Before Hvaldimir’s death, OneWhale and NOAH had been campaigning to relocate the whale to safer waters in northern Norway.