Species | Walrus |
---|---|
Sex | Female |
Died | 14 August 2022 Oslofjord, Norway |
Cause of death | Shooting [lower-alpha 1] |
Weight | 600 kg (1,323 lb; 94 st 7 lb) |
Named after | Freyja |
Freya was a young female walrus who appeared along the coasts of several western European countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) from October 2021 until her death on 14 August 2022. A rare sighting in the areas where she appeared, she attracted the attention of wildlife enthusiasts and the wider public. In the summer of 2022, after sunbathing on and sinking boats in the Oslofjord, she was shot after concerns about her and the public's safety. [lower-alpha 1] She weighed approximately 600 kilograms (1,300 lb). [2] [3] [4] [5] The decision to kill Freya was criticised by many wildlife experts.
Freya was nicknamed after Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and beauty. [3] The name was chosen by Frisian broadcaster Omrop Fryslân, after being spotted near Terschelling, from over 2,000 submissions from their audience. [6]
Although she might have been seen elsewhere as early as 2019, [7] Freya was first spotted and subsequently named in October 2021 resting on top of the Dutch Walrus-class submarine HNLMS Dolfijn. [8] [9] She was the first walrus to visit the Netherlands in 23 years; walruses usually live several hundred miles north in the Arctic. [9] In December 2021, she was seen relaxing on a salmon farm cage near the island of Vementry in Shetland. Before this, Freya had been spotted off the coasts of Denmark, Germany, and Northumberland in England. She was identifiable by a pink spot on her nose, [10] as well as her small tusks and an old injury on her flipper, making her distinguishable from other wandering walruses Wally and Stena. [7]
Scientists suspect that Freya originally lived on Svalbard in Norway, some 1,200 miles (1,900 km) away from Oslo. Caroline Radnofsky of the American NBC News speculated that climate change in the Arctic, which causes the ice cover to melt and thus increases competition for food, might have been a reason for Freya to stray so far from her natural habitat. [7]
In the summer of 2022, Freya had become known for hauling out on and occasionally sinking boats in the Oslofjord in order to sunbathe. [2] [11] Due to the attention from the media and public, many people went to see her, with many of them getting very close to Freya. A week prior to her death, the fisheries ministry published photographs of crowds of people who stood within touching distance of her. There was also evidence of people throwing items at Freya. This behaviour prompted warnings from Norwegian authorities, who said that approaching her could endanger both her and the public. In one incident, the police closed a bathing area after Freya chased a woman into the water. [2] [11] Biologist Per Espen Fjeld later explained: "She was not behaving like a typical wild animal. She sought out humans, which increased the risk of an accident. A friendly bump on a child swimming in the water could be fatal." [12]
Due to the attention Freya was receiving, the fisheries ministry consulted a veterinarian on her condition, and considered that she was likely not getting enough rest and was stressed. [13] Authorities had initially hoped that Freya would leave the area of her own accord. [14] When crowds continued to come close to the animal, the Directorate of Fisheries decided on 12 August 2022 to kill her. [15]
On the night of 13 August 2022, Freya was killed by a team of four men from the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. [15] Their patrol boat arrived at the Oslo marina where the walrus was basking on a moored boat. [15] The day before the killing the team took a video of Freya socialising with the marina staff. [15] Then, during the night, the team shot her with a rifle, using bullets which were described as "the ammunition to be used for that type of animal". [16] An anaesthetic dart was not used as there was concern that Freya would drown. [15] The carcass was then covered with a tarp and towed away by boat. [15]
Freya's carcass was delivered to a laboratory of the Norwegian Veterinary Institute where it was dismembered by a health surveillance team led by Knut Madslien. [15] Many samples of her blood and organs were taken and then the other remains were dissolved in a large vat of lye to form a gel. [15]
The boat on which Freya was killed was cleaned and returned to the marina. [15] It belonged to a real estate developer, Fredrik Walsoe, who was not present during the killing. [15]
Frank Bakke-Jensen, the director general of fisheries, stated that the decision to euthanise Freya was based "on an overall assessment of the continued threat to human safety", saying also that "animal welfare was not being maintained". [2] Bakke-Jensen also stated that other options had been explored, including the possibility of moving Freya from the fjord, which was discussed with the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research; these options were ultimately not carried out due to concerns regarding her welfare. [2] [5] [lower-alpha 2] Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre the next day said he supported the killing, stating "It was the right decision. I am not surprised that this has led to many international reactions. Sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions." [18]
The Washington Post acknowledged the potential difficulties with transporting marine animals, pointing to a beluga whale who died earlier in August during his attempted rescue from a river near Paris. [19] On 20 July 2022, another wild walrus named Stena had died in Finland during an attempted transport to Korkeasaari Zoo for treatment;[ citation needed ] [20] the two walruses had sometimes been compared to each other. [21] [20]
Siri Martinsen , leader of animal welfare group NOAH – for animal rights , criticised the decision to kill Freya and said that other measures should have been tried first. She also suggested that "those who fail[ed] to keep their distance from the animal should [have been] fined", noting that it may have made people follow guidelines. According to Martinsen, fines had not been considered. [5] Similar criticism was voiced by wildlife conservation organisations Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre and SOS Dolphin in the Netherlands. [22]
Rune Aae, a biologist from the University of South-Eastern Norway who had been tracking Freya's movement, called the decision "too hasty", saying that according to prior experience, "Freya had sooner or later gotten out of the Oslofjord". [23] "This is Norway in a nutshell", he said, "Too often we kill the animals we don't like or can't cope with." [12] Fredrik Myhre of WWF in Norway said the speed of the decision had surprised him, "They should have been more patient." [17] The New York Times pointed out the timing of the killing, saying that with summer vacation in Norway coming to an end, crowds were "likely to ebb". [17] The Norwegian Green Party submitted a question to the fisheries minister concerning the discarded alternate options. [12]
Espen Fjeld said that Freya's death would not impact the walrus population, but pointed to Norway's decision in March 2022 to license more oil drilling in the Barent Sea as threatening the entire endangered species. "Nobody talked about that. That is the real challenge and threat to the walrus population." [12]
In April 2023, a bronze sculpture of Freya lying on her side by sculptor Astri Tonoian called For Our Sins was unveiled in Oslo, after an online fundraising campaign, organised by Erik Holm, raised $25,000. [24] [25]
The walrus is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus, which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus, which lives in the Pacific Ocean.
Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Stena AB, itself a part of the Stena Sphere. It is a sister company to one of world's leading tanker company Stena Bulk.
The Oslofjord is an inlet in southeastern Norway. The 120-kilometre (75 mi) fjord begins at the small village of Bonn in Frogn Municipality and stretching northwards to the city of Oslo, and then curving to the east and then south again. It then flows south to an imaginary line running between the Torbjørnskjær Lighthouse and Færder Lighthouse where it becomes part of the Skagerrak strait. The Skagerrak connects the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea. The Oslofjord is not a fjord in the geological sense, but in the Norwegian language, the term fjord can refer to a wide range of waterways including inlets such as this one.
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in nine countries: United States, Canada, Namibia, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Finland and Sweden. Most of the world's seal hunting takes place in Canada and Greenland.
Pol III was a patrol boat of the Royal Norwegian Navy, used for guarding the inlet of the Oslofjord in early April 1940. She was a small vessel, originally a whaler, of 214 tons. She is best known for being the first Norwegian unit to engage the German invasion forces during the 1940 Operation Weserübung.
The MS SuperStar II is a ferry owned by the Greek/Cypriot Seajets, and operated on their service between Sandefjord and Strömstad from 16th June 2000 until 20th November 2022. She was built in 1985 as MS Peder Paars by Nakskov Skibsværft, Nakskov, Denmark for DSB Færger. Between 1991 and 2000 she sailed as MS Stena Invicta for Sealink Stena Line and Stena Line. In 1998 she was chartered to Silja Line under the marketing name MS Wasa Jubilee. In May 2000 the Stena Invicta started operating for Color Line and received the name MS Color Viking.
The minelayer HNoMS Frøya was built for the Royal Norwegian Navy by the naval shipyard in Horten during World War I, with yard number 108. A fast ship for her time, she was kept in service until the German invasion of Norway in 1940. At some point between her commissioning and 1940, a 76 mm gun was added to her armaments. Frøya was the first purpose-built minelayer commissioned into the RNoN.
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HNoMS Rauma was an Otra-class minesweeper built in 1939 for the Royal Norwegian Navy. Captured by the Germans during the 1940 invasion of Norway and renamed Kamerun, she was returned to the Norwegians after the end of the Second World War and recommissioned in 1947. Rauma remained in service until being sold for scrapping in 1963.
HNoMS Heimdal was a Norwegian warship built at Akers mekaniske verksted in Kristiania, Norway in 1892 with build number 137.
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MS Oslofjord was an ocean liner built in 1938 by A/G Weser Shipbuilders, Bremen, Germany, for Norwegian America Line. She was of 18,673 gross register tons and could carry 860 passengers. She would have an uneventful career until 1939 were two separate incidents happened. One from 27 April 1939, where she collided with the American an pilot boat, and another where she struck a mine sinking her.
HNoMS Sæl was the penultimate vessel of the ten 1. class torpedo boats of the Royal Norwegian Navy. She was built at the Royal Norwegian Navy Shipyard in Horten in 1901, with yard number 85. She was to see close to 40 years service with the Royal Norwegian Navy, taking part in the preparations for war in connection with the dissolution the union with Sweden in 1905, enforcing Norwegian neutrality during the First World War and opposing the German invasion of Norway in 1940. She was lost in battle with Kriegsmarine vessels at Ånuglo in the Hardangerfjord on 18 April 1940.
MS Stena Europe is a ferry owned by Stena Line which operated on its Fishguard—Rosslare route until withdrawn from that service in July 2023.
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Roy Nielsen was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II, a member of Milorg and involved in propaganda and sabotage. Among his sabotage operations was the destruction of 25 Messerschmitt fighter aircraft and 150 engines stored in a bus garage in Oslo, on 14 August 1944, together with Max Manus, Gunnar Sønsteby and others. Together with Max Manus he succeeded in sinking the German troop ship SS Donau in the Oslofjord 16 January 1945, by placing magnetic limpet mines with time delay on the ship's side.
Frank Bakke-Jensen is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He served as minister of defence from 2017 to 2021, and minister of European affairs from 2016 to 2017. He was mayor of Båtsfjord from 2007 until his election to the Storting from Finnmark in 2009. Bakke-Jensen formerly worked as a ship's electrician between Hammerfest and Tromsø, and has also worked as a teacher and self-employed pilot at Båtsfjord Airport. He has also performed military service in the UN Lebanon conflict.
The Action in the Oslofjord occurred late on 8 April 1940 in World War II. As Kampfgruppe 5 of the German invasion force proceeded towards Oslo, it encountered Norwegian defences in the Oslofjord. During a short exchange that resulted in the first Norwegian casualty of the war, the Germans managed to push through down to Drøbak Sound, where they would face more determined resistance.
Events in the year 2022 in Norway.
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