Beloved 'Russian spy whale' Hvaldimir is found dead under mysterious circumstances

Hvaldimir, a beloved whale believed to have escaped a past life as a Russian spy, was found dead over the weekend in what animal rights organizations say were unnatural circumstances.

The beluga — whose name combines the Norwegian word for whale (hval) and Russian President Vladimir Putin's first name — rose to international prominence after he was discovered by fishermen off the coast of Norway in 2019 wearing a camera harness that read “Equipment St. Petersburg.”

Theories about his mysterious past sparked headlines and intrigue, but it was his friendly demeanor that won him scores of admirers in the years that followed.

Hvaldimir worked his way along the Norwegian coast, frequenting fish farms and actively seeking out human interaction in the process. He was “very interested in people and responded to hand signals,” according to the nonprofit Marine Mind.

The gentle giant, who measured some 13 feet long and weighed about 2,000 pounds, even went viral several times: for retrieving a kayaker’s dropped GoPro camera, playing fetch with a rugby ball and playing with an underwater drone.

But Hvaldimir’s encounters with people weren’t always positive. He bore scars from being hit by multiple boats, and experts warned that he faced lower odds of survival as a “solitary sociable individual.” Concerns grew when he was spotted last year in Sweden, which has more people and fewer fish than Norway.

Hvaldimir’s case inspired the work of at least two nonprofits dedicated to marine conservation and Hvaldimir's protection specifically.

OneWhale, founded in 2019, advocated for Hvaldimir's protection from "tourism and other dangers." Other marine biologists, concerned about the impact of relocating the whale, formed Marine Mind, which tracked Hvaldimir's movements but also focuses on raising awareness about marine species more broadly. NPR has reached out to both organizations for comment.

With the permission of Norway's government, OneWhale was actively working to relocate Hvaldimir to a wild beluga population in the Arctic, where belugas are normally found. The organization had recently announced plans to transport him in the coming weeks.

But hopes for Hvaldimir’s safety were dashed on Saturday, when he was found dead in what OneWhale called the “heavily trafficked waters just outside of Stavanger, Norway.”

“This morning, after receiving a sighting report from a local, our team arrived to find Hvaldimir floating peacefully in the water,” Marine Mind announced on Instagram. “It is not [immediately] clear what caused his death, a necropsy will be conducted to determine his early passing.”

Hvaldimir was believed to be between 14 and 15 years old when he died. The average lifespan for a beluga whale is upwards of 30.

The Norwegian Veterinary Institute will conduct the necropsy — an autopsy for animals — and release the results in “two or three weeks,” the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries said in a statement to People.

In the meantime, theories and tributes are flooding social media.

Many questions remain about Hvaldimir’s life and death

OneWhale said in its announcement that it suspects Hvaldimir’s passing “was not a natural death.”

In a series of video messages later posted to Instagram, founder Regina Haug referenced “holes pouring with blood from his body” and said that out of a team of marine biologists and veterinarians who had looked at pictures of Hvaldimir’s injuries, “not one of them believe that Hvaldimir died of natural causes.”

“We got to visit Hvaldimir today ourselves and see him and say goodbye, and there was no question that he was dying from something very unnatural and heartbreaking,” she said tearfully, before casting blame on those who worked to “block his move” and spread misinformation about the extent of his injuries.

Sebastian Strand, the founder of Marine Mind, told AFP that there were no visible injuries on Hvaldimir’s body.

Strand also told the scuba diving publication Divernet that "we would prefer not to talk about human rifts in a time of mourning Hvaldimir," adding that "people had different ideas of how to best safeguard him."

"For now, we work toward a final dignity of making sure he is kept well and examined so his death will not be a mystery," he added.

While authorities work to answer questions about Hvaldimir's death, it's likely much about his early life will remain a mystery.

It is widely believed that he escaped captivity in Russian waters. Many, pointing to the label on his camera harness and his responsiveness to humans, believe he was involved in espionage.

The Russian navy has been known to use marine mammals like whales and dolphins for intelligence purposes (the U.S. has a history of similar programs), though the Kremlin has never commented publicly on Hvaldimir.

Others theorize he was a missing Russian therapy whale named Seymon, who lived in an enclosure and sometimes performed for children with disabilities.

What’s certain is that Hvaldimir’s playfulness and resilience both amused and inspired many. Environmental groups say his story shed a light on the plight of beluga whales and, by extension, other marine species struggling to survive.

Marine Mind credits Hvaldimir with touching tens of thousands of lives over the last five years and bridging “the gap between humans and wild animals in a way that few can.”

“His presence taught us about the importance of ocean conservation, and in doing so, he also taught us more about ourselves,” it added.