#RussiaMilitaryTrainingWhales
Norwegian fishermen and scientists say a white whale wearing a strange harness that harassed boats in the Arctic recently may have been trained by Russia's military. Russia has previously acknowledged training sea mammals for special operations in the frigid Arctic, where the country has a major military base not far from the territory of key NATO member Norway.
According to Britain's The Guardian newspaper, Norwegian state broadcaster NRK reported the unusual behavior of the animal last week and showed video of the beluga whale swimming alongside a fishing vessel and repeatedly nudging it.
"We were going to put out nets when we saw a whale swimming between the boats," NRK quoted fisherman Joar Hesten as saying. "It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it."
No science project?
The harness was removed from the animal by a team from the Norwegian Director of Fisheries. Jørgen Ree Wiig, from the agency, sent CBS News images and video of the whale and the harness, which has a logo on it reading, "Equipment of St. Petersburg." The canvas straps appeared slightly worn and there was visible rust on the metal screws holding the apparatus together.
There was nothing about the harness to identify it has having any links, specifically, to Russia's military, and the clip with the logo on it was written in English. But Norwegian scientists suspect a link to the Russian navy, nonetheless.
"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," Martin Biuw of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway told NRK.
