Norway: The Tragic Death of Walrus Freya
In Norway, the beloved walrus Freya was put down by authorities. The decision sparked outrage around the world.
Freya, a five-year-old, 600-kilogram walrus that had spent the summer lounging on boats and docks in the Oslofjord, inadvertently becoming a summer attraction for onlookers, tourists, and locals, has been killed by Norwegian authorities on the grounds that she posed a threat to public safety.
The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries stated that the decision to put the walrus down was made after the public repeatedly ignored warnings to keep their distance from Freya. A sobering reminder that our actions can have dramatic consequences for wild animals: animals are not here for our entertainment, and their need for space must be respected.
In recent months, Freya had also been spotted along the coasts of several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, and the Netherlands, without ever causing any problems.
Walruses normally live in the ice-covered waters of Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and Alaska, resting on sea ice between feeding sessions — but as the climate warms, melting sea ice is increasingly forcing walruses to rest on land, taking them further from their traditional feeding grounds.
Our Norwegian member organisation Dyrevernalliansen is deeply saddened that the decision to put Freya down was made as a result of human behaviour:
Nature is in crisis because of us, yet this seems to matter little — the government has decided there is no longer any room for Freya in Norwegian waters.
Siri Martinsen, veterinarian and director of the Norwegian animal welfare organisation NOAH, said:
Freya was a vulnerable animal — she was listed on the Norwegian Red List of vulnerable (or threatened) species — and her killing could only have been justified in an emergency situation or on animal welfare grounds, neither of which applied in this case.
The walrus is a species protected under Appendix II of the Bern Convention, meaning it is a strictly protected wild animal species. Norway has ratified the Bern Convention and is obligated under Article 6 of the Convention to take all appropriate and necessary legal and administrative measures to ensure the protection of these species.
Given the importance of protecting wildlife in the biodiversity crisis we are facing, Norway should have investigated further to find an appropriate solution for protecting both the walrus and people.
