Julia Valencia
People Editor
The alleged Russian Spy and beloved Beluga whale, Hvladimir, was found dead floating near the coastal Southwestern waters of Norway on Sept. 1. He was quickly brought into the harbor of a Norwegian town for inspection and an investigation into the cause of his death.
First spotted in April of 2019 off the coast of Northern Norway, Hvladimir is seen equipped with what looked to be a camera harness on his back. Upon closer inspection, the fishermen observed the printed words “Equipment St. Petersburg” on the harness. This began local speculation of Hvaldimir being a Russian spy resource who made an escape. Russia has not made a comment about the whale throughout the five years of spotlight on Hvladimir.
After making his first appearance, Hvladimir would often be spotted hanging around Hammerfest, Norway. Locals described Hvladimir as “highly sociable” and having “interactive behavior.” The Beluga whale’s name is a combination of the Norwegian word for whale, “Hval” plus the Russian President’s first name, “Vladimir.”
People around the world were shocked to hear of his death so soon. Almost immediately after, animal rights groups Noah and One Whale came forward claiming that Hvladimir was shot to death.
Though the idea of his death being in relation to gunshots had become the public’s general consensus, the Norwegian police came out and said otherwise after Hvladimir’s autopsy. All of the presumed gun wounds turned out to be shallow cuts that were not serious enough to warrant death for the whale. Norwegian police representative Preede Revheim, director of the North Sea and Environment sector in Southwestern Norway, commented in an interview:“There is nothing in the investigations that have been carried out to establish that it is human activity that has directly led to Hvladimir’s death.”
Though his external wounds proved unproblematic, his internal injuries told a very different story. After his cause of death being linked to bullet wounds was refuted, further inspection of Hvladimir’s body revealed that a one-inch thick and fourteen-inch-long stick was lodged in his mouth. Along with this, his stomach was found empty and his organs were destroyed, already broken down. His death has been ruled an accident. Hvladimir was estimated to be 15 to 20 years old when he died, while the average beluga whale’s life span ranges anywhere from 40 to 70 years.
(Sources: BBC, CBS, NBC)