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'Russian Spy' Whale Found Dead in Norway

Hvaldimir first appeared off Norway's coast in 2019. Jorgen REE WIIG / NTB Scanpix/AFP/File
Hvaldimir first appeared off Norway's coast in 2019. Jorgen REE WIIG / NTB Scanpix/AFP/File
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'Russian Spy' Whale Found Dead in Norway

Hvaldimir first appeared off Norway's coast in 2019. Jorgen REE WIIG / NTB Scanpix/AFP/File
Hvaldimir first appeared off Norway's coast in 2019. Jorgen REE WIIG / NTB Scanpix/AFP/File

A Beluga whale whose strange harness sparked suspicions it was trained by Russia for spying purposes has been found dead in Norway, according to an NGO which tracks his movements.
Nicknamed "Hvaldimir" in a pun on the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and its purported ties to Moscow, the beluga first appeared off the coast in Norway's far-northern Finnmark region in 2019, AFP said.
At the time, Norwegian marine biologists removed an attached man-made harness with a mount suited for an action camera and the words "Equipment St. Petersburg" printed on the plastic clasps.
Norwegian officials said Hvaldimir may have escaped an enclosure and may have been trained by the Russian navy as he appeared to be accustomed to humans.
Moscow has never issued any official reaction to speculation that he could be a "Russian spy".
On Saturday, the beluga's lifeless body was discovered off the southwest coast at Risavika by Marine Mind, an organization that has tracked his movements for years.
"I found Hvaldi dead when I was scouting for him yesterday like usual," Marine Mind's founder Sebastian Strand told AFP.
"We had confirmation of him being alive little more than 24 hours before finding him floating motionlessly," he added.
Fredrik Skarbovik, maritime coordinator at the port of Stavanger, confirmed the beluga's death to the VG tabloid newspaper.
Strand said the cause of the whale's demise was unknown and no visible injuries were found during an initial inspection of Hvaldimir's body.
"We've managed to retrieve his remains and put him in a cooled area, in preparation for a necropsy by the veterinary institute that can help determine what really happened to him," Strand added.
With an estimated age of around 14 or 15, Hvaldimir was relatively young for a Beluga whale, which can live to between 40 and 60 years of age.
Beluga whales can reach a size of six meters (20 feet) and generally tend to inhabit the icy waters around Greenland, northern Norway and Russia.
Those include the Barents Sea, a geopolitically important area where Western and Russian submarine movements are monitored.
It is also the gateway to the Northern Route that shortens maritime journeys between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

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Thousands of Turks Protest Controversial Law to Remove Stray Dogs 

People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
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Thousands of Turks Protest Controversial Law to Remove Stray Dogs 

People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)
People shout slogans during a protest against a bill approved by Turkish legislators that aims to remove stray dogs off the country's streets, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. (AP)

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to protest recent legislation that critics say is leading to the killing of stray dogs across Türkiye.

Last month, legislators approved the new law aimed at removing millions of stray dogs from Turkish streets citing safety concerns. Animal-lovers fear it will lead to widespread culling or dogs ending up in disease-ridden and overcrowded shelters.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the law was necessary to deal with the country’s “stray dog problem.”

Sunday’s protesters called for the law to be repealed, brandishing posters reading “shelters are death camps” and “withdraw the bloody law.”

“We want this law to be withdrawn immediately,” protester Hasan Kizilyatak, 64, told The Associated Press. “They (stray dogs) are living beings, just like us. We are here because we are against them being annihilated.”

Ayten Arslan, 55, who said she supports Erdogan, also showed up to protest.

“Just like we stood beside our president on July 15 (2016) when there was a coup attempt, we are here for the stray animals,” she told the AP. “I say as an AK Party supporter, this law, is a bloody law.”

The main opposition Republican People’s Party moved to repeal the law in the Constitutional Court less than two weeks after it passed.

The government estimates that around 4 million stray dogs roam Türkiye’s streets and rural areas. Although most are harmless, several people, including children, have been attacked.

A report released by the Safe Streets and Defense of the Right to Life Association, an organization campaigning for the removal of all stray dogs from the streets, says that 65 people have died in street dog attacks since 2022.

The new legislation requires municipalities to collect stray dogs and house them in shelters to be vaccinated, neutered and spayed before making them available for adoption. Dogs that are in pain, terminally ill or pose a health risk to humans will be euthanized. The initial draft bill included cats, but that article was changed after a public outcry.

However, many question where cash-strapped municipalities would find the money to build the necessary extra shelters required.

Animal rights activists worry that some municipalities might kill dogs on the pretext that they are ill rather than allocate resources to shelter them.

Videos showing dead cats and dogs buried in ditches have been circulating on social media recently. Animal rights activists say the animals were indiscriminately killed after the passage of the law.