Norway kills Freya, a 1,300-pound walrus that thrilled onlookers

Officials say walrus has become a threat to human safety because people ignore warnings and don't keep their distance from it in the water.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Norwegian authorities on Sunday killed a 1,300-pound walrus named Freya who had spent the last few weeks off Oslo climbing on boats and lounging on piers, saying moving her was "too high". risk."

"In the end, we couldn't see any other options," said Olav Lekver, spokesman for the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries. "She was in an area that was not natural to her."

Mr Lekver said the walruses needed a lot of rest and people disturbed Freya by swimming with it and taking pictures of it.The Oslo Fjord is very busy in the summer, with swimmers, boaters and other water recreation enthusiasts.Walruses are social animals and rarely venture out alone somewhere, which might explain why Freya spent time in a heavily populated area.

Management repeatedly warned people to stay away away from the animal, but they generally did not listen, Lekver said.Authorities warned last week that Freya risked being killed if they did not were unable to convince onlookers to stay away.

Freya has become a threat to human security, Lekver said. , adding, "She chased people on paddle boards and kayaks."

He didn't say how Freya was killed, but said that it was "as per regulations".

Freya has been sighted off the coast of Britain and various European countries including the Netherlands and Denmark, for at least two years.

There are about 225,000 walruses in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund. They live in ice-covered waters in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and Alaska.

In their usual habitat, walruses hoist on plates of ice. In Freya's case, she was pulling herself up onto docks and boats. Some ice caps are melting due to climate change causing walruses to lose some of their habitat.

ImageFreya was killed by unspecified means after officials said she chased people who were on paddle boards and kayaks. evys1bk0">"Many other options should have been tried before killing her," said Rune Aae, a biologist at the University of Southeastern Norway, who was tracking Freya's movements on a Google map to help people. know when to stay away from her. In a Facebook post on Sunday, he called the decision to kill her "too hasty".

" Freya had sooner or later left the Oslofjord, which all previous experience has shown, so euthanasia was, in my opinion, completely unnecessary,” he wrote.

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