Tame but wild & free beluga to be moved 1,400 miles to sea pen, 10 miles from Russia
OSLO, Norway––How did 54-year-old film maker Regina Crosby Haug, previously best known for a 2009 independent production called Teenage Dirtbag, win permission from the Norwegian government to move Hvaldimir the beluga 1,400 miles from his wild home in southern Norway to a closed fjord––essentially a big sea pen––in the extreme far north of the country, ten miles from Russia?
Where Hvaldimir will be, essentially, a lonely zoo exhibit, visible to tourists but unable to interact with them?
Against the advice of practically every marine mammal expert who has weighed in on the matter?
Hvaldimir came as a mystery
Hvaldimir first came to global notice in April 2019, wrote Guardian reporter Hannah Ellis-Petersen at the time, when “Fishermen in waters near the small Norwegian fishing village of Inga reported that a white beluga whale wearing a strange harness had begun to harass their fishing boats.”
Picked up fellow Guardian reporter Jules Howard, “Upon the body of this whale there was a strap. Upon the fabric of this strap was written a long chain of human hieroglyphs – ‘Equipment of St Petersburg,’ the writing said. And then – almost as if it were all a dream – the whale disappeared.”
Hvaldimir has reappeared many times since then, becoming a Norwegian celebrity.
Ric O’Barry: “The friendliest cetacean I ever met”
Ric O’Barry, 84, the former Flipper trainer who founded The Dolphin Project in 1970 to seek the release of captive marine mammals, and Helene Hesselgaar O’Barry, his Danish journalist wife of 28 years, first visited Hvaldimir in 2020.
Since then, O’Barry emailed to ANIMALS 24-7 on August 8, 2024, “Helene and have been putting our car on the ferry and steaming to Norway and Sweden chasing down Hvaldimir, the friendliest cetacean I ever met. We are monitoring his situation closely—especially the various monitors. Filmmakers, representatives from the captivity industry, Norwegian Secret Service, salmon farmers, and the usual opportunistic money grubbing foragers preying on animal welfare issues.”
Reported O’Barry after a July 2023 visit, “Frankly, I’m surprised he is still alive. He is not begging for food. He is begging for attention. Just wanting to connect with someone. Just wanting to be accepted, and loved.
“Playing in traffic”
“He has lost considerable weight,” O’Barry acknowledged then. “He looks emaciated. His so-called life is a humanized mess. And, I fear he is doomed,” O’Barry said, because Hvaldimir continued to ‘play in traffic,’ as O’Barry put it, by venturing close to humans in boats.
“Dr. Ingrid Visser from New Zealand and Norwegian biologist Sebastian Strand are committed to keeping Hvaldimir as safe as they can,” O’Barry said, “considering that they have no authority to keep people from riding on Hvaldimir’s back. Members of the public have been observed fondling him, scratching him with oars, and sticking objects into his mouth.”
O’Barry hoped to persuade either the Norwegian government or the Norwegian royal family to place Hvaldimir under special protection, but notes that Hvaldimir––like the orca Keiko after his release in 2002–– “has chosen the largest whaling nation on earth for his refuge.”
Norwegian whalers killed 580 whales in 2022, 507 in 2023.
(See Iceland whaling halt upstages Ric O’Barry appeal for Russian beluga.)
Hvaldimir may be former “therapy” whale
Despite much speculation that Hvaldimir was a Russian military espionage whale who was released or escaped, Wikipedia offers that, “Morten Vikeby, a former Norwegian consul in Murmansk, has suggested that Hvaldimir is a therapy animal from a program for disabled children at the Arctic Circle Padi Dive Centre & Lodge, near the Russian–Norwegian border; specifically, he may be Semyon, who was placed with the center while still young after being attacked by sea lions, and was featured in an article Vikeby wrote about the institution in 2008 for the magazine Fiskeribladet. The harness was for towing a boat with children inside. That institution no longer uses therapy belugas.”
“The name Hvaldimir,” noted Ine Schwebs of the leading Norwegian newspaper and news web site VG or Verdens Gang on August 10, 2024, “is a combination of the Norwegian word for ‘whale’ and the name of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin.
“Seems to have a good life”
“Hvaldimir proved to be very tame,” Schwebs affirmed. “He came when called, liked to be scratched around the blowhole, and played with people. He was also seen in other areas along the coast of Norway and Sweden.”
During a stay near the coastal city of Hammerfest, however, “Hvaldimir became ill and thin,” Schwebs recounted. “People were concerned about his state of health and whether he would make it. At one point last year, Hvaldimir stayed in the area around Oslo. He didn’t feel comfortable there, either, and people were again worried about whether he would make it.
“But since Hvaldimir came to Ryfylkefjorden last year,” Schwebs wrote, “he has shown signs of health, put on weight, and seems to have a good life, according to professionals who have observed him,” including Ric and Helene O’Barry and many others.
(Facebook photo)
Regina Crosby Haug
Regina Crosby Haug arrived in Norway around the same time that Hvaldimir did, having previously lived in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; San Clemente, California; and Venice, California.
Crosby Haug appears to have had no previous credentials pertaining to marine mammals, but began following Hvaldimir in connection with making a film yet to be completed called Spywhale, while demonstrating considerable aptitude at winning positive publicity.
In 2021 Crosby Haug incorporated a San Clemente-based nonprofit organization called OneWhale “to protect and advocate for Hvaldimir while we champion for his future in the wild and to be with other belugas. Our efforts include founding the Norwegian Whale Reserve,” the OneWhale filing of IRS Form 990 says, “with the vision to free other whales from captivity and provide them a safe life in the ocean.”
First plan to move Hvaldimir was rejected
Crosby Haug did not get very far at first.
“They were refused to move Hvaldimir to Svalbard,” Schwebs recounted on August 10, 2024. “Now the Directorate of Fisheries has turned around and given One Whale and the animal protection organization NOAH,” founded in 1989, “to move Hvaldimir, from Ryfylke to a fjord in Sør-Varanger. They think it will be better for Hvaldimir, because there he can be united with other white whales.”
“There is a tragic statistic about solitary beluga whales who live near people, where the risk of dying from injuries from propellers etc. is high,” veterinarian and NOAH president Siri Martinsen wrote to Schwebs.
“Based on this experience and Hvaldimir’s own history of injuries, it makes sense to move him to areas with less traffic, where he has a chance to meet other whales,” Martinsen said. “We want him to be free, but protected at the same time,” in a closed fjord.
(Facebook photo)
Scientists resign
Responded longtime marine mammal advocate Diana Armstrong, via Facebook, “Every expert, scientist & marine biologist who was on the board of OneWhale has resigned. With reason.
“Regina Crosby just seems to want funding and an ending to her documentary about Hvaldimir,” Armstrong charged, citing Sebastian Strand, mentioned earlier by Ric O’Barry, “who is a marine biologist and has been monitoring & taking care of Hvaldimir since the beginning. Strand resigned from One Whale last year,” Armstrong said, “and has been looking after Hvaldimir with his own money since.
Schwebs confirmed the resignations. “Strand worked with OneWhale before quitting last summer,” Schwebs reported. “A number of other professionals and volunteers broke with OneWhale at the same time as him.
(Vg.no photo)
“Incompatible principles”
“The basis for the separation was incompatible principles regarding professional decisions between management and the working scientific group,” Strand told Schwebs.
“Strand later started the organization Marine Mind,” Schwebs explained, “with the aim of educating the public about the beluga whale. The two organizations strongly disagree on how Hvaldimir should best be managed.”
Their differences were accented, Schwebs continued, when “a video emerged showing Regina Crosby Haug apparently riding Hvaldimir.
“Crosby Haug denies the accusation and says she was in the water to train Hvaldimir for moving,” Schwebs wrote.
See for yourself
Said Crosby Haug, “I definitely did not ride on his back. He swam under me. If we had bad intentions, we would never do this while everyone was watching.”
“She says she was in the water to train Hvaldimir and prepare him for the move,” Schwebs paraphrased.
The video may be seen here:
“If you are going to ask people to stay away, then you have to be a good role model yourself,” Strand told Schwebs.
“It sends the wrong signal”
“It is hypocritical that OneWhale criticizes others who swim with him, but then Regina sits on his back,” observed whale biologist Audun Rikardsen of the University of Tromsø.
“It sends the wrong signal,” Rikardsen said.
Rikardsen, like O’Barry and Strand, is skeptical of the whole reclocation scheme.
“There is no white whale population in the Varanger Fjord,” Rikardsen began. “There is not a permanent pod up there. It’s just by chance that some whales come by there.”
Even if other belugas do visit Varanger Fjord, Rikardsen added, “Hvaldimir seems to be more connected to people than whales. He has met cetacean species on his journey, but he has not shown much interest in them
“As long as he stays in the area he is in now and there is no problem, I don’t see that it is necessary for him to be moved,” Rikardsen said.
“Hvaldimir threw himself away”
Marine biologist Pia Ve Dahlen pointed out, Schweb summarized, that in one video clip, “Hvaldimir threw himself away from Crosby Haug and swam below the surface of the water,” with a tail slap that Ve Dahlen interpreted “as a warning.”
Explained Ve Dahlen, “Most animals are good at giving clear signals when they are irritated, before they possibly do something that could cause harm. That tail slap was such a signal. That behavior was not kind, pleasant and playful, but indicative of an irritated whale giving notice that he wants to be left alone.
“Moving a healthy whale is an unnecessary and potentially extremely stressful project,” Ve Dahlen continued. “He is healthy and fat where he lives now, and he lives a nice life with a local population who actually manage to treat him with respect.”
O’Barry: “I strongly oppose the plans”
Emailed O’Barry to ANIMALS 24-7, “I strongly oppose the plans of the OneWhale filmmaker to capture Hvaldimir and transport him to northern Norway, close to the Russian border.
“Russia now has a law in place that prohibits the capture of cetaceans,” O’Barry acknowledged, “but there is a loophole, and with a special permit, entrepreneurs or military trainers could still capture Hvaldimir. Especially since Hvaldimir is a very special case.
“To take the friendly beluga to a remote location that is so close to Russia is a terrible idea. It is almost as if someone wants for Hvaldimir to simply disappear, or swim off into the sunset like in the movies.”
“OneWhale’s filmmakers are putting Hvaldimir in serious jeopardy of ending up with the same beluga trainers he once escaped from, and once he enters Russian waters, there is nothing that anyone can do to save him. And let’s just imagine for a moment that Hvaldimir spends some time with wild beluga whales and then dies. No one will even know he is dead.
“He is now a free whale”
“There is also a high possibility of capture myopathy. Hvaldimir is not used to the water temperature,” O’Barry warned. “He has not shown he can catch enough fish to sustain him when he is away from fish farms. There is no guarantee he will be accepted by a pod.”
“Of course there will be less dangers around him if he is locked up,” concluded Rikardsen. “But then you also have to weigh that up against the fact that he is now a free whale, which is the whole point.”
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Sharing with gratitude. Are they attempting to assuage their own feelings of guilt, perhaps?
Do your homework guys. No pen or any enclosure is planned of any kind. We are moving the Hvaldimir out of a big city to the wild where he can I integrate with other whales. Please feel free to contact me directly here for actual facts… visit OneWhale.org so you can correct your article.
We correct our errors, but do not see one, except for your mention above that “We are moving the Hvaldimir out of a big city to the wild.”
The entire Ryfylkefjorden population appears to be only 33,511, with a human population of 19 people per square mile, well below the recognized international ceiling for rural areas of 500 people per square mile.
Concerning how OneWhale intends to keep Hvaldimir, this is an excerpt from OneWhale.org:
Mar 24, 2023, 1:58 PM ET
“This is a landmark vote and a major step toward our goal to protect Hvaldimir,” said OneWhale founder Regina Crosby Haug. “This decision moves us closer to the creation of one of the world’s first protected natural reserves for whales, which will allow us to offer sanctuary for Hvaldimir and other whales like him. When it’s complete, the Norwegian Whale Reserve will serve as a model for protecting whales
How is it to be “protected”?
We found this explanation, excerpted (in translation) from a 2022 NRK (Norwegian television) report:
“In collaboration with Hammerfest municipality, they (OneWhale) want to block off a fjord in Finnmark so that Hvaldimir can have its own area.”
How does OneWhale propose to “block off a fjord” without using a sea pen of some sort?
Does OneWhale expect to keep Hvaldimir in a fjord in Sør-Varanger without some means of confinement when he already swam 1,160 miles from Hammerfest to Oslo?
ANIMALS 24-7 has asked Regina Crosby these questions; her response, along with our observations pertaining to it, will appear below.
Editors’ notes appear in brackets and boldface.
Thank you for your reply. We thought you were just doing hard core tabloid stuff, but now we just see you are using quite old information. That is fixable. If it were 2022 or early 2023 this would make sense. But not August 2024.
[We copied the OneWhale website description of their plans cited in our article and above on August 10, 2024.]
There is a massive amount of information on our website and social media with clear messaging that Hvaldimir, a displaced out-of-habitat whale, is being translocated to a safer wild habitat and being given the opportunity to integrate with other whales. THERE IS NO NET INVOLVED.
[If not, there is nothing to keep Hvaldimir from “displacing” himself again, exactly as he already did two years ago in “displacing” himself 1,400 miles from Hammerfest to Oslo.
Of note, meanwhile, is that Ryfylkefjorden, where Hvaldimir has settled, is within one degree of north latitude of wild beluga habitats including Saguenay, Quebec; Hudson Bay and James Bay, northern Canada; Churchill Inlet, Manitoba; and Cook Inlet, Alaska.]
In fact, the people protesting his relocation are trying to keep the whale in monitored “human care” for profit.
[Neither Ric O’Barry, Sebastian Strand, Pia Ve Dahlen, nor Auden Rikardsen are making or seeking any “profit” from the presence of Hvaldimir in Ryfylkefjorden. Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has not appealed for funds in connection with Hvaldimir. But OneWhale, also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was incorporated specifically to raise funds around Hvaldimir, who is the subject of a film in production by Regina Crosby Haug.]
To help I am including an Instagram post where we update as to why we no longer feel that Hvaldimir is a good candidate for a sanctuary. When Hvaldimir first arrived in Norway in 2019, he was fully tame and dependent on humans, he has shown substantial signs of having rehabilitated, therefor our organization has adapted with him. We have not advocated for him to be in sanctuary for a year.
[If Hvaldimir is rehabilitated where he is, in Ryfylkefjorden, why move him back 1,400 miles to habitat he left of his own volition, under his own power?]
Also on our website is a copy of the permits provided by the Norwegian government, which if translated and read, indicate that the permits were granted are to relocate the whale, and there is no mention of enclosing him in any zoological setting.
Our messaging everywhere is overwhelming clear that the goal is to give Hvaldimir a chance at reintegrating.
[Note the testimony of whale biologist Auden Rikardsen, in particular, about how seldom belugas visit the proposed relocation site at Sør-Varanger and how little interest Hvaldimir has shown in interacting with the other cetaceans he has encountered.]
Also, this plan is not from “me” a filmmaker, but was developed by the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, the Norwegian Ocean Sciences Institute, our entire team at OneWhale (largely made of Norwegian vets and marine biologists) and co-authored by NOAH, Norway’s largest animal rights organization.
[Note that the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has authorized the killing of 2,000 minke whales over the past two years, of whom more than 1,000 have actually been killed. The fate of one beluga whale would not appear to be among their major concerns.]
It should also be noted that I got involved because after filming him I realized his life was at high risk for a long list of reasons. I began emailing every whale activist organization imaginable for help. They were all to busy with their own projects and weren’t interested. So when nobody came, a group of us started OneWhale. And until he moves his life remains at high risk. He lives almost full time at salmon farms who don’t want him. He has been struck by propellers 3 times. He has has been struck by a ship and by a number of boats. He has swarms of tourists around him every summer, with inexperienced swimmers and small children jumping in to swim with him. He has had near fatal infections from people putting stuff in his mouth that can harm him.
[These incidents, reported by Ric O’Barry in July 2023 and mentioned in our coverage, appear to have occurred primarily when Hvaldimir was in the Oslo area, before he relocated himself to Ryfylkefjorden.]
PS -ALL of the swimming photos/posts were from the last 6 weeks. The drone video of the near-miss with the boat was taken May 2024. This whale needs help. If we can at least start by not having misinformation in the media that would be great.
[If Hvaldimir needs relief from swimmers, ANIMALS 24-7 can think of one candidate in particular. See comments in our article, above, from Pia Ve Dahlen.]
Thanks for the article, very well done!! I also have a petition to the Norwegian authorities asking them to revoke the permit to forcibly capture and relocate Hvaldimir. https://www.change.org/the_beluga-hvaldimir
OneWhale themselves recently stated that in the event he does not integrate “He is already living life as a solo whale, so the outcome would be the same. But he should live another 50 years, it might take time but there is so much evidence of the power of animals to return to the wild.”
Why put him through additional trauma and stress if he might just come right back? Or worse, be recaptured by Russia to be used as a military asset or put in a tank to entertain the public.
Kind of sounds like Hvaldimir is only allowed to experience Regina’s kind of freedom…Selfish and sad.
He has already chosen where he wants to be, and isn’t that what freedom really is? Making your own choices?
Additionally, a recent letter was sent to the Norwegian authorities appealing the permit and was signed by over 70 scientist and experts from around the world, including Jane Goodall, Jean-Michel Cousteau and Dr. Ingrid Visser.
Hvaldimir is not one of our Dolphin Project campaigns. We’re just monitoring the monitors, and Hvaldimir of course.
But frankly, nothing can be done without Norwegian government cooperation. And that’s not happening. They won’t help, they just want him to go away. Disappear. He is an embarrassment—a symbol of hypocrisy to the whaling government.
They did issue a permit to capture and transfer him out of sight and out of mind. But they won’t step up and help monitor him where he is now, and where he has chosen to be; near the fish farms. He’s not really a pest there. He’s catching fish OUTSIDE the fish farm nets, not inside the round, netted salmon farms. Hvaldimir is not taking anything away from the fish farmers.
First time we went to see Hvaldimir it was for another interview request. It was just like any other interview. I agreed to do it if the filmmakers covered my flight and hotel from Denmark. I’ve never charged anyone for an interview, just cover the expenses is what I ask.
Last time we went to check on Hvaldimir we paid for everything ourselves, not Dolphin Project. Again, it’s not really a Dolphin Project campaign. Dolphin Project doesn’t have the budget for the work in Norway. That’s why we drove onto the ferry from Denmark and tracked Hvaldimir along the coast back to Norway, sometimes sleeping in the car. W e don’t raise funds for Hvaldimir. Never have.