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 …