A 1,300-Pound Walrus Could Be Killed if She Endangers the Public

Norway has warned that it could should kill a walrus named Freya out of concern that the 1,300-pound animal might hurt the delighted onlookers who’ve been unable to keep away from her throughout her summer season go to to the nation’s coast.

Individuals have been swimming near Freya, throwing objects at her and posing for images, typically with their kids, Vegard Oen Hatten, a spokesman for the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, informed The New York Occasions on Friday. The company has warned folks to keep away from the walrus, but when that doesn’t work, “there’s a chance to greenlight a managed operation to place the animal down,” Mr. Hatten mentioned.

There are different doable options, together with shifting Freya from the realm, he added, whereas noting that killing Freya could be a “final resort.” No last resolution has been made.

“She’s not aggressive,” mentioned Rune Aae, who teaches biology on the College of South-Jap Norway and commonly updates a Google map of Freya sightings. “But when she needs to play with you, you’ll lose, it doesn’t matter what occurs.”

For Freya, there appears to be no pressing cause to depart. She has loads of meals within the type of scallops and mussels, and he or she’s too younger, at 5 years previous, to offer start to a calf, Mr. Aae mentioned. Feminine walruses typically give start at round 9 or 10, and the animals can stay to be about 40.

“She’s having a splendid time on her vacation down right here,” Mr. Aae mentioned.

Walruses are social animals and barely enterprise someplace alone, which can be why Freya appears to love being round folks.

“She’s not afraid of us,” Mr. Aae mentioned. “Possibly she thinks we’re her flock.”

Freya has been noticed off the coasts of Britain and varied European nations, together with the Netherlands and Denmark, for at the very least two years.

“This can be a distinctive state of affairs,” Mr. Hatten, the spokesman, mentioned. “It’s the primary time an animal has stayed out of their pure habitat for therefore lengthy.”

Specialists suppose that Freya is on her method again north, the place she belongs. However discovering her method could show tough, as a result of Oslo Fjord, the place she was most lately noticed, is a useless finish on the way in which north. To get dwelling, she first has to return south, right down to Denmark to cross over to Britain, earlier than going again north.

“She has to show round, and to date, she hasn’t completed so,” Mr. Aae mentioned. “She doesn’t have a map, she doesn’t understand it’s a useless finish.”

It’s not totally uncommon for a walrus to indicate up in northern Europe, and related incidents have occurred earlier than. Most years, at the very least one walrus may be noticed in European waters, mentioned Dan Jarvis, the director of welfare and conservation at British Divers Marine Life Rescue.

Final 12 months, one other walrus, Wally, confirmed up off the coast of southwest England for about six weeks and climbed up on boats in a busy space of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago of greater than 150 islands. Native officers supplied him with a floating dock to lie on, as a result of he destroyed the boats together with his roughly 1,760-pound weight. There, too, folks obtained too shut and took photos with him, inflicting probably harmful conditions and resulting in requires his removing.

“He was coming to the busiest doable place,” Mr. Jarvis mentioned.

There are roughly 225,000 walruses within the wild, in keeping with the World Huge Fund for Nature. They stay in ice-covered waters in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and Alaska. Of their normal habitat, walruses haul themselves onto sheets of ice. Within the case of Freya, she’s hauling herself onto piers and boats. Walruses are affected by local weather change within the type of melting ice sheets, which is inflicting them to lose a few of that habitat.

If that retains occurring, Mr. Jarvis mentioned, “they’re going to have to go looking additional to seek out someplace appropriate.”