The news cycle moves fast. Tons of major and extremely minor stories rise and fall at a breakneck pace. So you’d be forgiven if you don’t remember or have never even heard of Hvaldimir, the beluga whale with whom we all had some good old-fashioned social media fun by accusing it of being a Russian spy. That’s an insane sentence, but that was 2019 for you.
Unfortunately, Hvaldimir has passed away.
Hvaldimir was a white beluga whale found near Norway with an unusual harness strapped to it. The harness was equipped with a camera and a label reading “Equipment St. Petersburg.” Naturally, everyone immediately assumed it was yet another in the long, rich history of animals that governments trained to be spies. If that sounds hard to believe, take heart in knowing that it’s so real that the CIA’s official website has a lengthy article all about the subject.
Russia, like every major government on earth, has a history of using animals for military purposes—especially marine animals like whales and dolphins. The Russian Navy denied any association with Hvaldimir, though, saying that the equipment the whale was wearing was not the kind of equipment they give to spies, human or whale. But anyone who’s watched or read any spy fiction knows that if an agent is captured, their government will deny any association or involvement.
Hvaldimir was found dead on August 31 in a harbor near Stavanger, a city in the southwestern region of Norway. He does not seem to have incurred any major injuries, and no foul play is suspected. He does not appear to be a “burned” espionage asset, if that’s what you’re thinking.
To this day, no one seems to know why he was wearing that harness—a harness that he seemed to hate, by the way, given that he was bumping himself into boats in an apparent attempt to take the harness off.
Researchers in Norway had been tracking him ever since. The fact that he was so friendly to humans suggests that he had been held in captivity at some point. Ultimately, we lost a good wholesome source of memes. RIP to a real one.
The post Whale Accused of Being a Russian Spy Found Dead appeared first on VICE.
The post Whale Accused of Being a Russian Spy Found Dead appeared first on VICE.
