Norway officials warn people about contact with famous whale

The Norwegian directorate of fisheries has said that people should avoid contact with a famous beluga whale to avoid accidentally injuring or killing it.

The whale, known as Hvaldimir, made history in 2019 when it was spotted wearing a specially made harness with mounts for a camera, leading experts to believe the whale may have been trained by the Russian military.

Since 2019, it has been traveling along the Norwegian coast with a few stops along the way, according to the directorate, which added that Hvaldimir tends to stay at farms where it has been able to catch fish, grazing on surplus feed. Hvaldimir is a renowned admirer of boats and plays with those on board.

The whale, which is a protected species in Norway, lives now in inner Oslofjord, the directorate said.

This means that it has arrived in a very densely populated area, and the risk that the whale may be injured because of human contact has become significantly greater, the agency said in a statement.

In a statement on Wednesday, Fisheries Director Frank Bakke-Jensen said that so far, there have only been minor incidents where the whale has suffered minor injuries, mainly from contact with boats. But he urged people to keep distance, even though the whale is tame and used to being around people. We especially encourage people on boats to keep a good distance to avoid the whale being injured or, in the worst case, killed by boat traffic, said Bakke-Jensen.

With the dangers of the whale, Bakke-Jensen asked whether the whale should be placed in captivity.

We have always communicated that the whale in question is a free-living animal, and we see no reason to capture it and put it behind barriers, he said.

Now that the whale is in a more vulnerable area and access to food may be limited, we will consider different measures, said Bakke-Jensen, who said: Now that the whale is in a more vulnerable area and access to food may be limited, we will consider different measures. It is too early to say anything concrete about that yet, he said. The Directorate of Fisheries will monitor the whale's movements to ensure that it is never stranded at the end of the Oslofjord.

Experts told CNN in 2019 that Hvaldimir was a trained animal, and evidence suggested that it had come from Russia.

The marine biologist at Norway's Directorate of Fisheries, Jorgen Ree Wiig, said the harness appeared specially made and had mounts for GoPro cameras on each side of it. And the harness clips read equipment St. Petersburg, contributing to a theory that the whale came from Murmansk, Russia, and was trained by the Russian navy.

The navy has been known to train belugas to conduct military operations, including guarding naval bases, helping divers, and finding lost equipment, Wiig said.