Hvaldimir (Norwegian pronunciation: [/ˈʋɑːl.dɪ.mɪr/]; c. 2009[1][2] – 31 August 2024) was a male[3] beluga whale that fishermen near Hammerfest in northern Norway noticed in April 2019 allegedly wearing a camera harness.

A fisherman named Joar Hesten finally put on a survival suit and jumped over the side of the boat to loosen the harness buckles.

[6][8] The whale continued to return to the boats for several days, asking for food and playing fetch,[9][10][11] and showed himself to be very tame, coming when called and liking to be scratched around the blowhole.

[17] A proposal was made to place the whale in a sanctuary in Iceland which already houses two belugas from China,[7][14][18] but since he seemed to be making efforts to find his own food, the Directorate of Fisheries decided in mid-May not to relocate him.

The trainers began to utilise Hvaldimir's trained behaviours to perform daily "feeding shows" in Hammerfest Harbour to cruise boat passengers.

Despite an initial health scare,[31] Hvaldimir's body condition improved as the Norwegian Orca Survey group regularly provided food for him while stressing to the public not to feed or interact with him.

[citation needed] In the summer of 2021, OneWhale formed "Team Hvaldimir" in an effort to attempt to mitigate the challenges and tourism around the whale.

In January 2023, Hvaldimir was still living full-time in and around fisheries off the coast of Norway, where he frequently would be seen interacting with workers, fishermen, locals, and tourists.

[citation needed] In May 2023, Hvaldimir was located near Hunnebostrand, in south-western Sweden, having travelled along the Scandinavian coastline at a faster speed than previously observed.

While the reasons for this movement aren't entirely clear, marine biologist Sebastian Strand speculated that the whale might have been seeking the company of others of his species, to socialise, or to find a mate.

[43] On 10 July 2023, it was reported that the Hammerfest town council had actually voted 28–32 in favour of setting up a private fjord sanctuary away from the busy harbour, but still within the region of Finnmark, away from maritime traffic and potentially dangerous tourists.

[23] On 9 September, he was filmed taking a kayaker's GoPro camera, then retrieving it from the harbour floor to return it to its owner,[47] while earlier that month he was observed playing with a wild herring gull, teasing it into dropping fish it had caught.

[48] In November 2019, a video appeared online of a beluga playing fetch with a rugby ball off the Norwegian coast; this was confirmed to be Hvaldimir.

[50][51][52] The animal rights organizations NOAH and OneWhale subsequently filed a police complaint stating that Hvaldimir died after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds.

[13] In late May 2019 satellite photos surfaced reportedly showing pens at the Russian naval base at Olenya Guba (Bay) that could accommodate belugas and other cetaceans.

[8][63] Morten Vikeby, a former Norwegian consul in Murmansk, has suggested that Hvaldimir was a therapy animal from a programme for disabled children at the Arctic Circle Padi Dive Centre and Lodge, near the Russian–Norwegian border;[19][64] specifically, he may be Semyon, who was placed with the centre while still young after being attacked by sea lions and was featured in an article Vikeby wrote about the institution in 2008 for the magazine Fiskeribladet.