Hval
Beluga whale Hvaldimir greets fisherman Joar Hesten. When the fisherman and former whaler jumped into the ice-cold Arctic water and freed Hvaldimir from a harness that had been fitted to the whale, both their lives changed forever. The harness was labeled with "Equipment of Saint Petersburg" and had an equipment mount attachment. Based on these elements and geographic considerations, it was speculated that the whale was a lost 'spy' animal, trained and used by the Russian Navy and hence dubbed him as Hvaldimir, a pun on the Norwegian hval (whale) and Vladimir Putin. Joar returned home down south and Hvaldimir did likewise. In the summer of 2020, he turned up in the fjord neighbouring Joar’s home. During that summer and autumn, the former whaler visited the whale, looking after him and discussed with annoyed fish farmers how they best could protect it.
Photo: Aleksander Nordahl (2019)
(H/T Scott Horton)
















