translated from Spanish: [VIDEO] Fishermen are whale ‘spy’ in Norwegian coast with a Russian harness and Mount for camera

A whale beluga found with a tight harness put on alert to the Norwegian authorities and sparked conjecture that the animal could have escaped from a Russian military installation, officials said Monday. Joergen Ree Wiig, of the Norway Fisheries Directorate, said that “Team Saint Petersburg” was written in the harness, who also had a mount for camera. REE Wiig added that fishermen in the Norwegian Arctic reported last week that swam the quiet white cetacean with a tight harness in the area. On Friday, Joar Hesten fisherman, with support of Ree Wiig, jumped into the icy water to remove harness.” Staff of the army of Norway has shown great interest”in the harness, said Ree Wiig.Audun Rikardsen, Professor in the Department of Arctic biology and marine of the University Arctic of Norway in Tromsoe in the North of the country, believes that” it is likely that the Russian Navy ” in Murmansk”is involved. Russia has major military installations in and around Murmansk, on the Kola peninsula, in the Russian Northwest corner. At the moment is unknown the type of training of the cetacean, or if it is part of Russia’s military activities in the region. Rikardsen said that reviewed with scholars in Russia and Norway, and that they have not reported any program of experiments using beluga whales.” “This is an amansado animal who is accustomed to serve you food, that made contact with the fishermen”, said. “The question now is whether he can survive by finding their own food. We have seen cases where other whales that are in Russian captivity is going well”. Hesten told the NRK Norwegian Blaster that whale began to rub against his boat when he saw her for the first time. Russia does not have a history of using whales for military purposes, but the defunct Soviet Union had an extensive program of training of dolphins. During the second world war, the Soviet Union used a base in Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula, to train the mammals for military purposes as the search for mines and other objects or the placement of explosives. Facilities in the Crimea were shut down after the fall of the Soviet bloc, although anonymous reports that the site had reopened shortly after Russia was annexed Crimea emerged. The Ministry of defence of Russia published a tender to acquire five dolphins for a training programme in 2016, and although not specified tasks that would make the animals, it was noted that they should have good teeth. The tender was withdrawn shortly after its publication.

Original source in Spanish