New Delhi:
Hvaldimir, a beluga whale found dead in Norway in August, died from a bacterial infection rather than a gunshot wound, Norwegian police said Friday. A possible cause of bacterial infection is a wound in the mouth caused by a stick.
The 14-foot-long, 2,700-pound whale was first spotted in 2019 wearing a harness that read “St. Petersburg Gear,” sparking speculation that it was a Russian spy. . Due to this, people gave him the nickname Hvardimir, Spywhale. Hvardimir is a combination of the Norwegian word “hvar”, which means whale, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first name.
Moby Dick was found dead on the outskirts of Stavanger on August 31st.
Animal rights group Noah and One Whale claimed the whale had been shot and filed a police report. When the Veterinary Research Institute in Sandnes conducted an autopsy on behalf of the Fisheries Directorate, a 35cm long stick was found stuck in the animal’s mouth.
“The report concluded that the probable cause of death was a bacterial infection, possibly caused by a wound in the mouth caused by a stick,” Norwegian police official Amund Preede Revheim said.
A press release issued by the Norwegian Police said: “The influence of pinene (Peg, wooden stick in Norwegian) may have caused nutritional problems in Hvardimir, leading to an increase in infections.” are.
“An examination carried out by a veterinary laboratory and a police detective technician revealed that there were no injuries. X-ray examinations of the chest and head could be carried out without the presence of a projector or other metal fragments. “I will,” he added.
Police found no trace of a bullet, so no further investigation was conducted.
“There are no investigations to show that Hvaldimir is in the country illegally. Therefore, the police had no reason to open an investigation into the whale’s death and responded to the reports that came in,” Pulid Levheim said. .
For biosecurity reasons, bodies are usually destroyed after necropsy at a veterinary laboratory. In this case, the Directorate General of Fisheries decided to donate the skeleton of Moby Dick Hvaldimir to the Natural Museum and Botanical Garden of UiA University in Agder.
Norway asked its citizens to avoid contact with Hvaldimir, who was seen in a fjord near Oslo last year.
