Hvaldimir. (Beth Clifton collage)
Tame but wild & free beluga to be moved 1,400 miles to sea pen, 10 miles from Russia
OSLO, Norway––How did 54-year-old film maker Regina Crosby Haug, previously best known for a 2009 independent production called Teenage Dirtbag, win permission from the Norwegian government to move Hvaldimir the beluga 1,400 miles from his wild home in southern Norway to a closed fjord––essentially a big sea pen––in the extreme far north of the country, ten miles from Russia?
Where Hvaldimir will be, essentially, a lonely zoo exhibit, visible to tourists but unable to interact with them?
Against the advice of practically every marine mammal expert who has weighed in on the matter?
Hvaldimir. (GoFundMe photo)
Hvaldimir came as a mystery
Hvaldimir first came to global notice in April 2019, wrote Guardian reporter Hannah Ellis-Petersen at the time, when “Fishermen in waters near the small Norwegian fishing village of Inga reported that a white beluga whale wearing a strange harness had begun to harass their fishing boats.”
Picked up fellow Guardian reporter Jules Howard, “Upon the body of this whale there was a strap. Upon the fabric of this strap was written a long chain of human hieroglyphs – ‘Equipment of St Petersburg,’ the writing said. And then – almost as if it were all a dream – the whale disappeared.”
Hvaldimir has reappeared many times since then, becoming a Norwegian celebrity.
Ric & Helene O’Barry.
Ric O’Barry: “The friendliest cetacean I ever met”
Ric O’Barry, 84, the former Flipper trainer who founded The Dolphin Project in 1970 to seek the release of captive marine mammals, and Helene Hesselgaar O’Barry, his Danish journalist wife of 28 years, first visited Hvaldimir in 2020.
Since then, O’Barry emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 on August 8, 2024, “Helene and have been putting our car on the ferry and steaming to Norway and Sweden chasing down Hvaldimir, the friendliest cetacean I ever met. We are monitoring his situation closely—especially the various monitors. Filmmakers, representatives from the captivity industry, Norwegian Secret Service, salmon farmers, and the usual opportunistic money grubbing foragers preying on animal welfare issues.”
Reported O’Barry after a July 2023 visit, “Frankly, I’m surprised he is still alive. He is not begging for food. He is begging for attention. Just wanting to connect with someone. Just wanting to be accepted, and loved.
Hvaldimir the beluga with Helene O’Barry.
“Playing in traffic”
“He has lost considerable weight,” O’Barry acknowledged then. “He looks emaciated. His so-called life is a humanized mess. And, I fear he is doomed,” O’Barry said, because Hvaldimir continued to ‘play in traffic,’ as O’Barry put it, by venturing close to humans in boats.
“Dr. Ingrid Visser from New Zealand and Norwegian biologist Sebastian Strand are committed to keeping Hvaldimir as safe as they can,” O’Barry said, “considering that they have no authority to keep people from riding on Hvaldimir’s back. Members of the public have been observed fondling him, scratching him with oars, and sticking objects into his mouth.”
O’Barry hoped to persuade either the Norwegian government or the Norwegian royal family to place Hvaldimir under special protection, but notes that Hvaldimir––like the orca Keiko after his release in 2002–– “has chosen the largest whaling nation on earth for his refuge.”
Norwegian whalers killed 580 whales in 2022, 507 in 2024.
(See Iceland whaling halt upstages Ric O’Barry appeal for Russian beluga.)
(Beth Clifton collage)
Hvaldimir may be former “therapy” whale
Despite much speculation that Hvaldimir was a Russian military espionage whale who was released or escaped, Wikipedia offers that, “Morten Vikeby, a former Norwegian consul in Murmansk, has suggested that Hvaldimir is a therapy animal from a program for disabled children at the Arctic Circle Padi Dive Centre & Lodge, near the Russian–Norwegian border; specifically, he may be Semyon, who was placed with the center while still young after being attacked by sea lions, and was featured in an article Vikeby wrote about the institution in 2008 for the magazine Fiskeribladet. The harness was for towing a boat with children inside. That institution no longer uses therapy belugas.”
“The name Hvaldimir,” noted Ine Schwebs of the leading Norwegian newspaper and news web site VG or Verdens Gang on August 10, 2024, “is a combination of the Norwegian word for ‘whale’ and the name of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Seems to have a good life”
“Hvaldimir proved to be very tame,” Schwebs affirmed. “He came when called, liked to be scratched around the blowhole, and played with people. He was also seen in other areas along the coast of Norway and Sweden.”
During a stay near the coastal city of Hammerfest, however, “Hvaldimir became ill and thin,” Schwebs recounted. “People were concerned about his state of health and whether he would make it. At one point last year, Hvaldimir stayed in the area around Oslo. He didn’t feel comfortable there, either, and people were again worried about whether he would make it.
“But since Hvaldimir came to Ryfylkefjorden last year,” Schwebs wrote, “he has shown signs of health, put on weight, and seems to have a good life, according to professionals who have observed him,” including Ric and Helene O’Barry and many others.
Regina Crosby Haug with Hvaldimir.
(Facebook photo)
Regina Crosby Haug
Regina Crosby Haug arrived in Norway around the same time that Hvaldimir did, having previously lived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; San Clemente, California; and Venice, California.
Crosby Haug appears to have had no previous credentials pertaining to marine mammals, but began following Hvaldimir in connection with making a film yet to be completed called Spywhale, while demonstrating considerable aptitude at winning positive publicity.
In 2021 Crosby Haug incorporated a San Clemente-based nonprofit organization called OneWhale “to protect and advocate for Hvaldimir while we champion for his future in the wild and to be with other belugas. Our efforts include founding the Norwegian Whale Reserve,” the OneWhale filing of IRS Form 990 says, “with the vision to free other whales from captivity and provide them a safe life in the ocean.”
Siri Martinsen. (Facebook reel photo)
First plan to move Hvaldimir was rejected
Crosby Haug did not get very far at first.
“They were refused to move Hvaldimir to Svalbard,” Schwebs recounted on August 10, 2024. “Now the Directorate of Fisheries has turned around and given One Whale and the animal protection organization NOAH,” founded in 1989, “to move Hvaldimir, from Ryfylke to a fjord in Sør-Varanger. They think it will be better for Hvaldimir, because there he can be united with other white whales.”
“There is a tragic statistic about solitary beluga whales who live near people, where the risk of dying from injuries from propellers etc. is high,” veterinarian and NOAH president Siri Martinsen wrote to Schwebs.
“Based on this experience and Hvaldimir’s own history of injuries, it makes sense to move him to areas with less traffic, where he has a chance to meet other whales,” Martinsen said. “We want him to be free, but protected at the same time,” in a closed fjord.
Sebastian Strand, marine biologist.
(Facebook photo)
Scientists resign
Responded longtime marine mammal advocate Diana Armstrong, via Facebook, “Every expert, scientist & marine biologist who was on the board of OneWhale has resigned. With reason.
“Regina Crosby just seems to want funding and an ending to her documentary about Hvaldimir,” Armstrong charged, citing Sebastian Strand, mentioned earlier by Ric O’Barry, “who is a marine biologist and has been monitoring & taking care of Hvaldimir since the beginning. Strand resigned from One Whale last year,” Armstrong said, “and has been looking after Hvaldimir with his own money since.
Schwebs confirmed the resignations. “Strand worked with OneWhale before quitting last summer,” Schwebs reported. “A number of other professionals and volunteers broke with OneWhale at the same time as him.
Regina Crosby Haug & Hvaldimir.
(Vg.no photo)
“Incompatible principles”
“The basis for the separation was incompatible principles regarding professional decisions between management and the working scientific group,” Strand told Schwebs.
“Strand later started the organization Marine Mind,” Schwebs explained, “with the aim of educating the public about the beluga whale. The two organizations strongly disagree on how Hvaldimir should best be managed.”
Their differences were accented, Schwebs continued, when “a video emerged showing Regina Crosby Haug apparently riding Hvaldimir.
“Crosby Haug denies the accusation and says she was in the water to train Hvaldimir for moving,” Schwebs wrote.
(Beth Clifton collage)
See for yourself
Said Crosby Haug, “I definitely did not ride on his back. He swam under me. If we had bad intentions, we would never do this while everyone was watching.”
“She says she was in the water to train Hvaldimir and prepare him for the move,” Schwebs paraphrased.
The video may be seen here:
“If you are going to ask people to stay away, then you have to be a good role model yourself,” Strand told Schwebs.
Audun Rikardsen. (Beth Clifton collage)
“It sends the wrong signal”
“It is hypocritical that OneWhale criticizes others who swim with him, but then Regina sits on his back,” observed whale biologist Audun Rikardsen of the University of Tromsø.
“It sends the wrong signal,” Rikardsen said.
Rikardsen, like O’Barry and Strand, is skeptical of the whole reclocation scheme.
“There is no white whale population in the Varanger Fjord,” Rikardsen began. “There is not a permanent pod up there. It’s just by chance that some whales come by there.”
Even if other belugas do visit Varanger Fjord, Rikardsen added, “Hvaldimir seems to be more connected to people than whales. He has met cetacean species on his journey, but he has not shown much interest in them
“As long as he stays in the area he is in now and there is no problem, I don’t see that it is necessary for him to be moved,” Rikardsen said.
Pia Ve Dahlen. (Beth Clifton collage)
“Hvaldimir threw himself away”
Marine biologist Pia Ve Dahlen pointed out, Schweb summarized, that in one video clip, “Hvaldimir threw himself away from Crosby Haug and swam below the surface of the water,” with a tail slap that Ve Dahlen interpreted “as a warning.”
Explained Ve Dahlen, “Most animals are good at giving clear signals when they are irritated, before they possibly do something that could cause harm. That tail slap was such a signal. That behavior was not kind, pleasant and playful, but indicative of an irritated whale giving notice that he wants to be left alone.
“Moving a healthy whale is an unnecessary and potentially extremely stressful project,” Ve Dahlen continued. “He is healthy and fat where he lives now, and he lives a nice life with a local population who actually manage to treat him with respect.”
Ric O’Barry. (Dolphin Project photo)
O’Barry: “I strongly oppose the plans”
Emailed O’Barry to ANIMALS 24-7, “I strongly oppose the plans of the OneWhale filmmaker to capture Hvaldimir and transport him to northern Norway, close to the Russian border.
“Russia now has a law in place that prohibits the capture of cetaceans,” O’Barry acknowledged, “but there is a loophole, and with a special permit, entrepreneurs or military trainers could still capture Hvaldimir. Especially since Hvaldimir is a very special case.
“To take the friendly beluga to a remote location that is so close to Russia is a terrible idea. It is almost as if someone wants for Hvaldimir to simply disappear, or swim off into the sunset like in the movies.”
“OneWhale’s filmmakers are putting Hvaldimir in serious jeopardy of ending up with the same beluga trainers he once escaped from, and once he enters Russian waters, there is nothing that anyone can do to save him. And let’s just imagine for a moment that Hvaldimir spends some time with wild beluga whales and then dies. No one will even know he is dead.
Beth & Merritt Clifton with friends.
“He is now a free whale”
“There is also a high possibility of capture myopathy. Hvaldimir is not used to the water temperature,” O’Barry warned. “He has not shown he can catch enough fish to sustain him when he is away from fish farms. There is no guarantee he will be accepted by a pod.”
“Of course there will be less dangers around him if he is locked up,” concluded Rikardsen. “But then you also have to weigh that up against the fact that he is now a free whale, which is the whole point.”
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