Whales in jails, pigeons in dungeons: Spying tales from around the world

A beluga whale that was suspected of spying for Russia after it was spotted in Norwegian waters five years ago has been found dead, according to the non-profit organisation that had been monitoring the whale.

The body of Hvaldimir – a spin on the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin – was found floating in southern Norway over the weekend, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.

Hvaldimir was wearing a harness with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera when it was first found in 2019 near the island of Ingoya in Norway's north.

The whale was very interested in people and responded to hand signals, leading Norway's domestic intelligence agency to presume he had been held in captivity in Russia as part of a research programme before crossing into Norwegian waters.

Not the first time

This, however, wasn't the first time animals have been used for spying, one of the world's oldest professions. While using animals and birds in ancient warfare, ranging from sniffing dogs to messenger pigeons, is well-documented, modern spy roles seem to have achieved significant value with the combination of technology.

The bird-as-spy dates back to 1907, when Julius Neubronner created a small automated camera to strap onto his birds. His discovery cleared the path for camera-equipped pigeons to be used by the German military throughout the First World War.

During the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War, winged spies, particularly crows, ravens and pigeons, were trained by intelligence agencies for espionage

In 1976, the US declassified the Office of Research and Development document that shed light on attempt to train different species of birds in the task of carrying out intelligence collection for support missions, particularly in Europe.

The report also praised pigeons for outperforming all other animals in spying. Pigeons have earned more medals of honour than any other animal in military and intelligence history.

In the 1960s, the CIA even tried to use bottlenose dolphins for underwater attacks against enemy ships and for surveillance.

According to recent reports, the Israeli military is developing and training "snake robots" to handle rugged and restricted locations for intelligence missions.

In 2016, a large vulture with a six-foot wingspan crossed the Israeli border into Lebanon. The locals suspected the animal was being used to spy on them as it had some electronic device fitted to it.

Pigeon spy wars have been common in the Indian sub-continent, where arch-rivals India and Pakistan have 'arrested' Pigeons for espionage, often triggering a flurry of hilarious memes on social media.

In May 2015, India arrested a white pigeon in the disputed Kashmir that it alleged had come from Pakistan and in October 2016, another pigeon was taken into custody after it was found with a note threatening Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In May 2020, a man from Pakistan penned an emotional note to the Indian Prime Minister urging him to return his Pigeon. The Indian police, however, said the pigeon had a ring on one of its legs, inscribed with a code that they were trying to decipher. The man from Pakistan claimed the arrested pigeon had no code but his mobile phone number.

More recently, in February 2024, Indian authorities released a pigeon into the wild after keeping it in 'detention' for eight months because it was suspected of spying for the Chinese.