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Beluga Whale playing some rugby (Original Post)
mia
Nov 2019
OP
tblue37
(65,483 posts)1. K&R for the whale puppy. nt
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,829 posts)2. Even a large marine mammal deserves a *Squeee*!
BKDem
(1,733 posts)3. It's so life-affirming to see playful animals
instead of stupid humans.
Aristus
(66,446 posts)4. And seeing humans and animals playing together.
That was really moving...
NotASurfer
(2,153 posts)5. I think that would be problematic for narwhals n/t
Link to tweet
Since then H. has appeared in various Northern harbors and in several viral videos and many news reports. He repeatedly approached boats, pulled a diver's knife from its scabbard, and returned an iPhone to a woman who dropped it
Because H. has spent so much time in captivity he seems unable to join a wild pod & remains at least semi-dependent on human care. There have been disturbing reports that H. has been injured by propellors & anglers and that people have prodded & jabbed him https://nrk.no/finnmark/hvaldimir-har-fatt-mange-nye-skader_-_-flere-har-kastet-planker-og-andre-ting-etter-ham-1.14701000
On Nov 7 Alon Kowen posted a video on Facebook allegedly showing South African rugby fans playing fetch w/ a beluga "close to the South Pole." Few people questioned the provenance or why there would be a beluga so far south; they inhabit the far North https://facebook.com/alon.kowen/videos/beluga-whale-celebrating-the-springboks-victory-somewhere-close-to-the-south-pol/10157295174625860/
Belugas are highly intelligent & social, but truly wild whales are not familiar w/ rugby. They don't know what to do w/ a ball if you throw it at them. The provenance of the video remains unclear. I've reached out to Kowen for more information and will update if I hear from him
The video has now been shared & liked hundreds of thousands of times. But it's not an adorable or inspiring depiction of interspecies relations. It's a tragic story all too similar to those of Keiko & Luna, orcas whose celebrity & isolation ultimately killed them far too young
Thank you to @Quad_Finn@TetZooand others for their efforts to bring the real story to wider attention