LICENSE TO KRILL

Russia ‘Using Trained Whales For Surveillance,’ Say Experts in Norway

White whale spotted wearing apparent camera harness.

Marine experts in Norway think they've discovered something fishy after a white whale was spotted wearing a strange camera harness which was labelled “Equipment of St. Petersburg.” Fishermen reported last week that a white beluga whale had been harassing their boats. “It came over to us, and as it approached, we saw that it had some sort of harness on it,” fisherman Joar Hesten told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. The harness seemed to be designed to hold a camera or a weapon and has raised suspicions that the whale was given military-grade training by Russia. “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,” said Martin Biuw of the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. Audun Rikardsen of the Arctic University of Norway told NRK: “We know that in Russia they have had domestic whales in captivity and also that some of these have apparently been released. Then they often seek out boats.”