Recently, a large hook was found to be embedded in his tail fluke, with a large squid bait attached by a length of fishing line. This created drag which kept embedding the hook into his flesh. Fortunately, this line was eventually cut after a fair bit of planning and a couple tries, and has since resulted in the hook itself loosening and has allowed for hvaldi to either rub it off, or it fell out on its own.

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Norwegian article about the case(with video):

https://www.nrk.no/trondelag/kjendiskvalen-hvaldimir-gar-under-kallenamn-for-a-ikkje-bli-assosiert-med-vladimir-putin-1.15906215

In short, for those of you that don't read enchantment table language, the name change was a decision made by the team as "Hvaldi" (pronounced val-dee) has been used for a long time, and having the whale named after Vladimir Putin left a sour taste in our mouths these days.

I saw this article:

https://www.ifinnmark.no/trodde-han-fant-hvaldimir-dod-det-hvite-hvalkadaveret-flot-like-utenfor-bodo/s/5-81-1428576

I don’t have access to it, does anyone know what it says?

Not many posts on this sub, how's it going with him?

I remember when Hvladmir popped up in the news. And I did read around at the time & the wikipedia article now again.

If he is a Russian military marine mammal, why didn't they just claim him back? They didn't need to admit anything and could just say he's anything else. I mean isn't it strange they wouldn't want to recover an animal they spent resources on? Surely his "cover is not blown" & they could identify if he's been tagged?? Or might it be that he didn't pass some sort of training, and they "let him go"?

If he's not a military/related to a naval base, with other theories out there (rehabilitation animal etc.), why didn't someone claim him back? Unless they were doing something illegal and didn't want to prompt investigations.

I’ve been googling for a while now and can’t find anything current on him except that post about him being injured. And that was just an Instagram. No official sources reporting on the injury and nobody seems to be talking about a plan for his future?

I’m waiting to hear back from the Norwegian Orca Survey who were monitoring him before, to ask if they still are.

Anyone find better sources than me?

He's now in Nord-Troms. The Norwegian Orca Survey people have been to see him, and say his weight and energy are good!