This is the incredible moment a Russian spy whale retrieved a girl’s phone from the sea and returned it to her after she dropped it in the water.
The white beluga, who was suspected of being a Russian spy before being found dead in September, has been seen in footage from a new BBC Two documentary gently approaching a boat full of admirers before handing a woman a phone on the mouth.
Several women can be heard shouting in disbelief: ‘Is this real? Oh my god, it’s real’ as the phone broke through the surface of the water.
In the clip, from Secrets of the Spy Whale, the marine mammal nicknamed Hvaldimir (which combines the Norwegian word for whale, hval, and Vladimir Putin’s first name) moves its head up and down as people gently splash water on it. around the face.
The 14-foot whale then drops the phone in a girl’s hand before slowly descending back into the water with its mouth open, making it appear as if it is smiling.
In a new BBC documentary, Secrets of the Spy Whale, the white beluga whale, famously considered a Russian spy, was seen retrieving a woman’s phone after she dropped it into the sea.
The woman was left in disbelief after the whale passed her mobile phone with its mouth.
The 14-foot whale then slowly descends back into the water with its mouth open, making it appear as if it is smiling.
Other clips of the beluga also appear in the film, showing it cheekily sticking its head out of the water at Hammerfest, a town in Finnmark, Norway, as people gathered to see the famous aquatic agent.
Other footage shows Hvaldimir retrieving what appears to be a yellow float from the sea as fans cheer him on.
Hvaldimir’s body was found floating in Risavika Bay in southern Norway in September, and at the time of his death, animal rights groups claimed he had been shot.
But a forensic examination conducted just a week later concluded that human activity did not directly cause the death of the animal, which died after a stick was stuck in its mouth.
An autopsy showed that the 35cm long and 3cm wide stick was stuck in the animal’s mouth, and police said Hvaldimir had also suffered some “completely superficial” injuries, adding that “there was no evidence to suggest that Hvaldimir was shot.”
He was first seen by fishermen near the northern island of Ingoya in April 2019 wearing a harness and what appeared to be a mount for a small camera and a buckle marked with the text: “Team St. Petersburg.”
This sparked accusations that Hvaldimir was a Russian spy, but the new BBC documentary recently claimed he may have been protecting Kremlin property.
After 10 months of investigations into the secret underwater agent, the creators of Secrets of the Spy Whale found evidence suggesting he may have been trained as a covert “guardian whale” rather than being sent to sea to carry out espionage. maritime.
Other footage shows Hvaldimir retrieving what appears to be a yellow float from the sea as fans cheer him on.
When Hvaldimir was found, he was wearing a harness and what appeared to be a mount for a small camera and a buckle marked with the text: “Team St. Petersburg.”
Hvaldimir, a white beluga whale who was first spotted near Russian waters in a harness and sparked rumors that he could be a spy for Moscow.
Nicknamed Hvaldimir (combining the Norwegian word for whale and Vladimir Putin), the whale’s body was found floating in Risavika Bay in southern Norway in September.
“Our latest findings about the potential role Hvaldimir had been trained for bring us closer to solving the mystery, but also raise many additional questions about what Russia might be trying to protect in the Arctic, and why,” said Jennifer Shaw, director. of the film told The Observer.
As Shaw and his team investigated the mystery, they met with one of the last remaining veterans of one of the US Navy’s first programs and a former dolphin trainer, who explained the advantages of using such creatures as guards.
Blair Irvine told the newspaper that the bubbles are created from the movements of swimmers, which in turn create noise.
Because dolphins’ hearing is so sensitive, it was a foolproof method of catching intruders, and the Soviet Union quickly launched its own program using similar techniques.
A phalanx of dolphins were supposedly used to protect the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, and while in floating cages, they were trained to give a signal if any underwater intruders approached.
Shaw also revealed to the newspaper that it was clear that Hvaldimir was trained in a similar manner, as he had seen him putting his nose on anything that appeared to be a target.
This suggested to him that the beluga had shown signs of having been recruited as part of a security patrol, rather than as a spy.
BBC Two’s Secrets of the Spy Whale will air tomorrow at 9pm