Beluga whale with harness was trained by Russia, claim scientists
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LIFE 29 April 2019
The whale was wearing a harness with the words “Equipment of St Petersburg” printed on it.
Jorgen Ree Wiig / Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries Sea Surveillance Service
By Sam Wong
A beluga whale wearing a tight harness spotted by fishermen off the coast of Norway may have been trained by the Russian military, Norwegian scientists have claimed.
The whale has been approaching boats and trying to rub off the straps, Norwegian broadcaster
NRKreported. After seeing a video of the whale, staff from Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries’ Marine Service went out to find it and attracted it with cod fillets.
A fisherman got into the water with the whale and managed to take off the harness, according to the
VG newspaper. The whale then swam around the boat a few times before swimming off.
The words “Equipment of St Petersburg” were printed on the inside of the harness.
“I have been in contact with some Russian researchers and they can confirm that there is nothing they are doing,” Audun Rikardsen of Norwegian Arctic University in Tromsø told
VG. “They tell me that most likely it’s the Russian Navy in Murmansk.”
Jørgen Wiig, a marine biologist from the Directorate of Fisheries’ Marine Service, said that judging from the whale’s tame behaviour, it had probably been in captivity for some time. “It was very used to people, so I do not know if it will manage alone,” he told VG.
Jorgen Ree Wiig / Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries Sea Surveillance Service
Read more: Inside the secret military programme that uses dolphins as weapons
There is a long history of whales and dolphins being trained for military purposes by various countries.
The US Navy began a dolphin research programme in the 1960s that led to dolphins being deployed to defend ships in Vietnam. Russia launched its own programme during the Cold War, training dolphins to plant bombs and detect abandoned ships.
Ukraine’s navy began a dolphin programme in 2012, but the animals fell into Russia’s hands with the annexation of Crimea in 2014. A Ukrainian government representative
claimed that the dolphins died “patriotically” by going on hunger strike and refusing to cooperate with the Russians.
Zvevda, a TV station owned by the Russian military, reported in 2017 that the navy was training beluga whales, seals and dolphins for military use in polar waters. According to
The Guardian, Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute investigated whether beluga whales could guard entrances to naval bases and kill strangers who enter their territory. However, the research concluded that whales were not suited to working in arctic waters and lacked the “high professionalism” of seals.
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