Fisherfolk near the Norwegian village of Inga reportedly saw a white whale with a strange harness attached to it. The whale was actively seeking out the boats and pulling on the straps and ropes.
“We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale swimming between the boats,” fisherman Joar Hesten told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it.”
The whale’s unique behaviour, and the fact that it seemed used to human presence has led Norwegian Marine experts to suspect that it received military training from the Russian Navy.
The harness, which was later removed from the whale, reportedly had the words “Equipment of St Petersburg” inscribed on it.
“If this whale comes from Russia – and there is great reason to believe it – then it is not Russian scientists, but rather the navy that has done this,” said Martin Biuw of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway, reports The Guardian.
Soviet Russia in the 1980’s was involved in training dolphins, whales and seals for military purposes. Though the programme was discontinued, in 2017 it was revealed that the Russian military was training aquatic mammals again.
“We know that in Russia they have had domestic whales in captivity and also that some of these have apparently been released. Then they often seek out boats.” Audun Rikardsen, a professor at the department of arctic and marine biology at the Arctic University of Norway, told NRK.
The Guardian reports that a recent study was conducted by the Murmansk Sea Biology Research Institute, in northern Russia, to determine if such animals were suitable for the Navy. The research concluded that Seals and Dolphins were much better suited for military purposes than whales who lacked “discipline”.
(With inputs from The Guardian)
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