Why did Hvaldimir have a 14-inch stick stuck in his mouth & throat?

(Beth Clifton collage)

The friendly beluga was not shot,  but starved to death

OSLO, Norway––The Norwegian Veterinary Institute on September 9,  2024 released preliminary findings from the official necropsy performed on the remains of Hvaldimir,  the friendly wild beluga who was found dead on August 31,  2024 in Ryfylkefjorden,  Norway.

The complete Norwegian Veterinary Institute findings are to be published toward the end of September 2024.

Announced Norwegian marine biologist Sebastian Strand,  who had followed,  studied,  and organized efforts to protect Hvaldimir for more than five years,  “The veterinary report concludes that Hvaldimir had a 14-inch stick lodged in his mouth and throat, potentially preventing him from ingesting food.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Stomach was empty

“This seems to be supported by the Norwegian Veterinary Institute finding that Hvaldimir’s stomach was empty at the time of discovery [of his carcass] and his internal organs were degraded.”

The necropsy reportedly found that Hvaldimir was about fifteen to twenty years old,  twice the age he was widely guesstimated to be.  Dental deterioration also suggested Hvaldimir was an older whale.

While the stick might have prevented Hvaldimir from eating,  it is also possible that Hvaldimir,  already starving,  might have mistaken the stick for a fish.

Hvaldimir’s ability to catch fish might also have been degraded by conditions of age,  or by illness.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Was illness a factor?

The H5N1 avian influenza is known to have occasionally crossed over into marine mammals from migratory birds inhabiting the region.

COVID-19,  also a potential threat to marine mammals,  was discovered several years ago on Norwegian mink farms,  from which contaminated runoff might have entered nearby fjords.  The discovery of COVID-19 led to the slaughter of more than 15 million Norwegian ranched mink.

“No evidence of a bullet or corresponding internal injury has been found,”  Strand emphasized,  refuting a conspiracy theory advanced on September 4,  2024 by American film maker Regina Haug of OneWhale and Siri Mortensen of the Norwegian animal rights group NOAH that Hvaldimir had been shot.

Haug and Mortensen,  opposed by 73 marine mammal experts including Strand,  had been fundraising and seeking permits to relocate Hvaldimir from Ryfylkefjorden back to Finnmark in the Norwegian far north.

(See Why is Norway giving beluga Hvaldimir to “Teenage Dirtbag” film maker?)

Hvaldimir the beluga with Helene O’Barry.

Hvaldimir apparently fed normally for four years

Hvaldimir was first seen in in April 2019 near Inga, a fishing village  on the island of Ingøya in Finnmark,  wearing a collar with Russian words on it that were initially believed to mean that he had escaped from Russian military use.

Named Hvaldimir as a pun on the Norwegian word for whale and the name of Russian president Vladimir Putin,  the beluga was later identified as having probably been Semyon,  formerly kept as a therapy animal by a program for disabled children at the Arctic Circle Padi Dive Centre & Lodge, near the Russian–Norwegian border.

Former Flipper trainer Ric O’Barry,  who turned in 1970 to advocating for marine mammal freedom,  and his wife Helene,  first visited Hvaldimir in 2020.  They reported after visiting Hvaldimir in July 2023 that he appeared to be emaciated.

Before that,  however,  Hvaldimir apparently fed normally,  keeping his strength up,  while swimming south 1,400 miles to Oslo,  briefly visiting Swedish waters,  and just missing Denmark before returning northwest to Ryfylkefjorden,

Sebastian Strand.  (Facebook photo)

Laboratory & histopathology reports pending

“We are aware that extensive samples have been taken and sent for further analysis and we anticipate that the laboratory and histopathology results will help identify all the factors that contributed to his death,”  Strand said.

“We feel profound sorrow for the death of Hvaldimir.  His charismatic personality and journey captivated so many people,  not only in Norway but internationally,”  Strand continued.

“He brought a positive change in attitude,  empathy and concern for the welfare of  beluga whales,  as well as other marine mammals,”  Strand suggested.

“We thank the Norwegian Veterinary Institute for treating Hvaldimir with dignity and respect.”

Strand also thanked the Sør-Vest Police District for investigating the circumstances of Hvaldimir’s death,  including the rumor that he was shot,  amplified by Haug and Mortensen with photographs showing alleged bullet wounds on Hvaldimir’s body.

However,  what appear to be some of the same purported “bullet wounds” appear––without any notice or commentary––in a photograph of Hvaldimir first posted by Haug to her OneWhale page on Facebook on November 8,  2023.

Hvaldimir.  (Beth Clifton collage)

Hvaldimir & Jack London

Pending completion of the necropsy report,  which is expected to include a review of evidence of disease,  Hvaldimir appears to have suffered essentially the same fate,  albeit by accident,  as a great white shark who was captured after killing a sealing ship crew member in the 1904 Jack London novel The Sea Wolf:

“The shark, a sixteen-footer, was hoisted up against the main-rigging.  Its jaws were pried apart to their greatest extension,  and a stout stake,  sharpened at both ends,  was so inserted that when the pries were removed the spread jaws were fixed upon it. …The shark dropped back into the sea,  helpless,  yet with its full strength,  doomed—to lingering starvation—a living death less meet for it than for the man who devised the punishment.”

That man,  sealing captain Wolf Larsen,  Jack London’s most memorable villain,   told London’s narrator in a later passage that though often mistaken for Norwegian,  he was a Dane.

$5,000 reward

Unlike the unfortunate shark,  and apparently Hvaldimir,  Haug and Mortensen seem to need no props,  pointed or otherwise,  to keep their mouths open in blaming all those who opposed their scheme to relocate Hvaldimir.

Claiming to have been making a film about Hvaldimir since 2020,  Haug responded to the Norwegian Veterinary Institute report by posting a meme to the OneWhale page on Facebook offering a reward of $5,000 “for information that leads to solving a crime related to his death.”

The OneWhale meme was illustrated with a photograph of what appeared to have be blood around Hvaldimir’s rostrum,  or blowhole.

Photographs distributed with the Haug/Mortensen media release of September 4,  2024 purported to show bleeding bullet wounds along Hvaldimir’s right side.

ANIMALS 24-7 noted discrepancies between the locations of the wounds and how the blood would normally flow from a deceased animal who was hoisted from the water by the tail.

Photo of Hvaldimir posted by Regina Haug on November 8, 2023.  The question marks surrounding “bullet holes” are ours.  (Beth Clifton collage)

Audun Rikardsen explains marine mammal decomposition

“As for the alleged bullet holes,”  posted University of Tromsø professor of Arctic and marine biology Audun Rikardsen,  “it is common for birds to poke holes in whales’ bodies quickly after the whales die,  at weak points in the skin.

“These can be scars from previous injuries,  or from parasites.  When a whale dies,  the body produces gas and the remains swell strongly,  or if the animal is lifted the pressure will increase against these holes/scars.  Then these will open, at the same time as birds can peck them and reinforce the size and depth of the holes.

“Rips and cracks form in the skin around the hole,  and when blood comes out of the hole (as it often does),  this can form a ‘ring’ around the hole,”  producing the appearance of a bullet wound where there actually is none.”

Captive dolphins in Taiji.  (Dolphin Project photo)

Taiji dolphin drive hunts began on September 5

Overshadowed by the international hue-and-cry over Hvaldimir,  “After a delay due to a typhoon, Taiji’s dolphin drive hunt season started on September 5,  2024,”  Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project reminded Facebook followers.

“During this 6-month long drive hunt season,”  the Dolphin Project explained, “pods of wild dolphins are sought after for slaughter or for live-capture for the aquarium trade.

“As last season,”  the Dolphin Project said,  “our approach to the Taiji campaign has shifted to focus more on prosecution,  lawsuits,  and working with advocates and organizations in Japan.

Ric O’Barry in Taiji.  (Dolphin Project photo)

“Progress is being made”

“It can be discouraging to continually see images of these drive hunts,”  the Dolphin Project acknowledged,  “but it is important to keep in mind that progress is being made.  The Life Investigation Agency [a Japanese advocacy group] and Dolphin Project have won all lawsuits we filed against the dolphin hunting industry over the past few years,  and the reality of the dolphin trade industry, which has been hidden from the public, will gradually be revealed.

“Slaughter and capture numbers have declined over the years,”  the Dolphin Project said,  “and more parts of the world have moved to ban acquiring Taiji dolphins, or have banned cetacean captivity altogether.”

Beth & Merritt Clifton with friends.

The Norwegian minke whaling season is also underway.  Norwegian whalers killed 580 minke whales in 2022,  507 in 2023,  and have a 2024 quota,  set by the Norwegian government,  of up to 1,157 whales,  should they choose to kill that many.

(See also Paul Watson jailed, Hvaldimir dead, Japan & Norway go on whaling.)

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