The alleged operative surfaced in 2019 wearing a camera harness labelled ‘equipment of St Petersburg’ – but sadly this documentary is thin on other details
Spy Whale does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a documentary about a whale that was, in all probability – if not in all cetacean consciousness – a spy. For the Russians. In 2019, a beluga whale who would eventually be named Hvaldimir (a portmanteau of the Norwegian word for “whale” and Putin’s first name) approached a fishing boat off Ingøya Island, virtually the northernmost point of Scandinavia. It was wearing a harness that was cutting into its flesh and appeared to be seeking help, as intelligent marine mammals are known to do.
The boat’s captain, Joar Hesten, radioed for help from Jørgen Ree Wiig – whose job at the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries it is to free whales who get caught up in fishing equipment – and kept Hvaldimir with the boat by feeding him fish until Wiig could travel the five hours to meet them. Together they eventually got the harness off. There is footage of their achievement, which involved Hesten risking his life by joining the distressed whale in the freezing water. “People had put him in this situation in the first place,” he says. “We had to make it right.” Hesten is the calmest man you will ever meet. If you were a panicking beluga whale stuck in a harness, he is the man you would want at your side. When the last buckle finally opens, “it is one of the best moments of my life,” he says. “I just wished him luck on his journey.”
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