CNN –
People should avoid “contact” with a famous beluga whale to avoid accidentally injuring or killing it, according to the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries.
The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, rose to international fame in 2019 after it was spotted wearing a custom-made harness with mounts for a camera, leading experts to believe the whale may have been trained by the Russian military.
Jorgen Ree Wiig, Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries/Sea Surveillance Service
Hvaldimir has been known to approach boats.
Since 2019 it has been “travelling along the Norwegian coast” and has made a few stops along the way, according to the directorate, adding that Hvaldimir “mostly stays on farms where it has been able to catch fish and feeds on surplus feed.”
Hvaldimir is known for following boats and playing with those on board.
The whale, which is a protected species in Norway, now lives in the inner Oslofjord, the directorate said.
This “means that it has arrived in a very densely populated area and the risk of the whale being injured by human contact has increased significantly,” it said.
Jorgen Ree Wiig/Norwegian Fisheries Directorate
Hvaldimir has traveled the Norwegian coast.
In a statement on Wednesday, fisheries director Frank Bakke-Jensen said: “So far there have only been minor incidents where the whale has sustained minor injuries, mainly from contact with boats.”
However, he urged people to keep their distance “even if the whale is tame and used to being around humans.”
“We particularly encourage people in boats to keep a sufficient distance to avoid boat traffic injuring or, in the worst case, killing the whale,” Bakke-Jensen said.
Given the dangers, Bakke-Jensen was asked if the whale should be kept 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 lock it behind fences,” he said.
However, as the whale is now “in a more vulnerable area and access to food may be restricted, we will consider other measures,” Bakke-Jensen added. “But it’s still too early to say anything concrete.”
The Directorate of Fisheries will monitor the whale’s movements in the hope that it will turn back when it reaches the end of the Oslofjord.
In 2019, experts told CNN that Hvaldimir was a trained animal and there was evidence that it originated in Russia.
Jorgen Ree Wiig, a marine biologist at the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, told CNN that the harness appeared to be “custom made” and had “mounts for GoPro cameras on each side.”
And the harness clips say “Equipment St. Petersburg,” adding to the theory that the whale originated in Murmansk, Russia, and was trained by the Russian Navy.
The Navy is “known for training Belugas to conduct military operations,” Wiig said, “like guarding naval bases, helping divers and locating lost equipment.”