Bacterial infection, not foul play, likely killed Russian ‘spy whale’

Karah Rucker

THE MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE BELUGA WHALE THAT CAPTURED GLOBAL ATTENTION WITH RUMORS OF ESPIONAGE, HAS FINALLY BEEN RESOLVED. 

KNOWN AS “HVALDIMIR,”(VALD-I-MEER) THE THE 14-FOOT-LONG, TWO-THOUSAND-700-POUND WHALE, WAS FOUND DEAD IN AUGUST IN A SOUTHERN NORWEGIAN BAY.

ANIMAL RIGHTS GROUPS QUICKLY CLAIMED THAT THE BELUGA HAD BEEN SHOT.

BUT NOW, NORWEGIAN POLICE ARE SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT.

ACCORDING TO AUTHORITIES,  A FINAL AUTOPSY BY NORWAY’S VETERINARY INSTITUTE HAS CONCLUDED THAT THE PROBABLE CAUSE OF DEATH WAS ACTUALLY A BACTERIAL INFECTION–LIKELY CAUSED BY A WOUND IN THE WHALE’S MOUTH FROM A STICK THAT WAS LODGED THERE.

OFFICIALSEMPHASIZED THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE TO SUGGEST THAT THE WHALE HAD BEEN SHOT.

THE AUTOPSY WAS COMPLICATED BY THE FACT THAT MANY OF HVALDIMIR’S ORGANS WERE HEAVILY DECOMPOSED, BUT BOTH FORENSIC TECHNICIANS AND THE VETERINARY INSTITUTE RULED OUT GUNSHOT WOUNDS

GAINING INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION AFTER IT WAS FIRST SPOTTED OFF NORWAY’S COAST IN 2019, THE WHALE WAS SPOTTED WEARING A HARNESS BELIEVED TO BE OF RUSSIAN ORIGIN. 

THIS LED TO SPECULATION THAT THE WHALE WAS PART OF A RUSSIAN SPY PROGRAM.

HIS TAME NATURE AND THE HARNESS LABELED, “EQUIPMENT ST. PETERSBURG,” SPARKED INTRIGUE, BUT EXPERTS BELIEVE HIS DEATH WAS PURELY ACCIDENTAL.

I’M Karah Rucker AND FOR MORE NEWS LIKE THIS, VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS-DOT-COM