The organizations Noah and One Whale have reported suspected illegal killing, and have stated that they even saw at least one bullet stuck in the whale's body.
However, the police district Sørvest in Norway rejects the allegations.
No findings from the autopsy indicate that Hvaldimir was shot, says Amund Preede Revheim at Sørvest police.
The injuries visible on the whale's body were superficial, according to the police. This means that it is still unclear what caused his death. The final autopsy report will be available in two weeks.
The beluga whale was first discovered at the end of April 2019 and gained attention because it was very contact-seeking. It was also equipped with a camera harness marked "Equipment from St. Petersburg" – which led to speculations that it was trained to perform Russian espionage tasks.
Hvaldimir was recently found dead in the sea off Stavanger.
