Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Investors On Retire

Stock

‘Russian spy’ whale probably died after stick became lodged in its mouth, police say

A beluga whale discovered with a harness strapped around its neck in Norwegian waters five years ago – and found dead on August 31 – had a stick stuck in its mouth and its death was not related to human activity, police said on Monday.

The body of Hvaldimir – a combination of the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin – was spotted a week ago floating in the sea by a father and son fishing in southern Norway.

The animal became the subject of media attention when it was discovered off Norway’s Arctic coast in 2019 wearing a harness with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera.

Norway and Russia share a maritime border in the Arctic, leading to jokes that the whale was a Russian spy.

Norwegian police had opened an investigation into the death of the animal after two animal rights groups filed a complaint.

An autopsy showed a stick measuring 35 centimeters in length (14 inches) and 3 centimeters wide (1.2 inches) was stuck in the whale’s mouth, police for the South West district said in a statement.

“The autopsy showed that its stomach was empty. In addition, most organs had broken down,” police said.

“There is nothing in the investigations that have been carried out to establish that it is human activity that has directly led to Hvaldimir’s death.”

As a result, police would not investigate further, they added.

The animal rights groups had alleged the whale had been shot dead. On Monday, police said Hvaldimir had sustained some injuries but that they were “completely superficial,” adding “there was no evidence suggesting that Hvaldimir was shot.”

A full report will be ready in two weeks, it said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the daily email that makes reading the news actually enjoyable. Stay informed and entertained, for free.
Your information is secure and your privacy is protected. By opting in you agree to receive emails from us. Remember that you can opt-out any time, we hate spam too!

You May Also Like

Economy

The Supreme Court seemed to signal interest this week in taking up a challenge launched by Hawaii against big oil companies to hold them...

Top News

Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is back in the headlines — not for suspending his campaign last week and endorsing Republican...

Investing

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump failed to impress everyone in a room full of top CEOs Thursday at the Business Roundtable’s quarterly meeting, multiple attendees told...

Investing

Arcade chain Dave and Buster’s plan to allow customer betting isn’t winning over everyone. Software company Lucra Sports announced on Tuesday that it was working with...