Marine biologist vacationing in Cape Breton speaks out about death of 'Russian spy' whale

He was a popular beluga with a whale of a name – and an unlikely, albeit loose, Cape Breton connection.

Hvaldimir – a play on the Norwegian word for 'whale', and Russian President Vladimir Putin – was a 14-foot long, 2,700 pound marine mammal that was first spotted off Norway wearing a camera harness labelled "Equipment St. Petersburg."

That sparked allegations the beluga was a Russian spy whale.

Experts have said the Russian Navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes.

Over the years, the beluga was seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it quickly became clear he was very tame and enjoyed playing with people.

On Aug. 31, however, he was found dead.

"It's no question that it's not a natural cause of death,” said Anna Victoria Pyne Vinje, a research leader with One Whale, a group that was devoted to protecting Hvaldimir.

Though she is from Norway, Vinje was visiting family in the Mira Road area of Cape Breton when she heard about the demise of a whale she had interacted with closely over the years.

"There's no question that the animal has been shot,” Vinje said with anger.

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Necropsy photos provided by One Whale show what appear to be bullet holes in the whale's body.

For years, Vinje and her colleagues tried to push for Hvaldimir to be relocated because of the injuries they say he had suffered from human interactions.

"What I don't understand is other people who were fighting for this animal to say he was safe and doing well where he's been at when even now, being shot, clearly shows that's not the case,” Vinje said.

She feels the spread of misinformation played a role in keeping the whale where he was and contributed to his demise.

"It doesn't seem people know how much harm it can cause by giving false information out there –which I believe is a lot of the reason why Hvaldimir is dead right now,” she said.

For now, Vinje says One Whale plans to file a police report about the shooting of the animal.

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