The white beluga whale was found on the southwest coast of Risavika Bay by a father and son who were fishing.
A beluga whale nicknamed Hvaldimir after its strange harness raised suspicions it was a Russian spy has been found dead in southwestern Norway.
The whale's carcass was discovered floating off Risavika Bay in southern Norway on Saturday by a father and son who were fishing, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.
“Hvaldimir was not just a beluga whale; he was a beacon of hope, a symbol of connection and a reminder of the deep bond between humans and the natural world,” Marine Mind, a nonprofit that had been tracking his movements, said on social media.
Hvaldimir, a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, “hval,” and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was first spotted off the northern coast of Norway in 2019.
Its artificial harness, which appeared to be a camera mount and had the words “Equipment St Petersburg” stamped on it, fuelled speculation that it was a “spy whale”.
Norwegian officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped from an enclosure and been trained by the Russian navy as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.
Moscow has never responded to the speculation.
After Hvaldimir was found dead, his body was lifted out of the water by crane and taken to a nearby port for further examination.
“We managed to recover its remains and place it in a refrigerated area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute that can help determine what actually happened to it,” marine biologist Sebastian Strand told NRK, adding that no major external injuries were observed on the animal.
Strand, who has followed Hvaldimir's adventures for the past three years on behalf of Marine Mind, said he was deeply affected by the whale's sudden death.
“It's absolutely horrible,” Strand said. “It was apparently in good condition at the time.” [Friday). So we just have to figure out what might have happened here.”
Hvaldimir was 4.2 metres (14ft) long, weighed 1,225kg (2,700 pounds) and was thought to be between 14 and 15 years old.
Over the past five years, he had been seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it was clear that he was very tame and enjoyed playing with people, NRK said.
Norwegian media speculated that rather than being a “spy whale”, Hvaldimir had actually been a “therapy whale” of some kind.
Beluga whales, whose habitat is the northern waters of Greenland, Norway and Russia, usually live to between 40 and 60 years of age.
