No Bullet Trace Found: What Really Happened to Hvaldimir, the 'Beluga Spy' Found Dead in Norway ?

The beluga whale found dead in Norway at the end of August, the subject of all fantasies, including suspicions of espionage, probably succumbed to a bacterial infection, Norwegian police announced Friday based on an autopsy report.

Named Hvaldimir, a play on words combining the word whale (hval, in Norwegian) and the emblematic Russian first name of the master of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, the cetacean had become a celebrity in the Scandinavian country where it had appeared in 2019.

Described as young and relatively healthy, it was found dead on August 31 in Risavika Bay, on the southwest coast of Norway. Two NGOs had then claimed that it had died from a gunshot wound, suspecting “criminal act”.

An autopsy was ordered at the Veterinary Institute, which quickly announced the discovery of a 35-centimeter stick in the animal's mouth.

Bacterial infection

“The report concludes that the probable cause of death was a bacterial infection, possibly as a result of injuries in the mouth caused by a stick that was stuck in”, police official Amund Preede Revheim said on Friday.

“The stick may also have led to difficulties for Hvaldimir in feed, increasing the risk of infection,” he added, quoted in a statement.