'Wally' the vagrant walrus

I've seen this topic lightly discussed in various places here but I don't believe there's a dedicated thread for it (or else, I wasn't able to find one in my searches). I'm curious to hear everyone's in-depth thoughts and opinions on this case.

On March 14th, 2021 an approximately 4-year-old bull Atlantic walrus was sighted in County Kerry, Ireland, suspected to have drifted in on sea ice from Greenland. He has since traveled as far as the coasts of France and Spain, and is currently back in Ireland as of August.



In the five months out of his native range Wally has proven a controversial figure; a headache to some as he damages private property (it seems that insurance companies are declining to cover boat damage inflicted by stray walruses), and an icon to others as "Wally the Walrus" merchandise is becoming increasingly popular with him being considered something of a local celebrity.

Wally's rising popularity has lead to an increase in both the frequency and severity of harassment cases, both from individuals looking to get an up close view and pictures, and from those understandably looking to save their property from damage.

During Wally's stay off of the Isles of Scilly in July, a raft was specially built for his use with great success. The aim was to allow him undisturbed rest to gain the energy to return northward, without the risk of him adding another line to his list of sunken boats.

Many options have been proposed for this case, including letting nature take its course, capture and relocation to Greenland, and euthanasia.

One similar case in which some form of action was taken was that of an Atlantic bull calf found in the River Ouse of England in 1981, which was captured and maintained at Natureland in Skegness for some weeks before being flown to Greenland for release.

Do you remember when the Walrus came to Norfolk?

What are your thoughts on this unique situation? What course of action do you feel should be taken, and why?

 

I have a similar situation locally here that may have some insight into this more developing situation
In New Zealand we have Owha the 3 meter long leopard seal. She was first spotted in Dunedin back in 2012 and then spotted around Northland and Auckland in 2015,and has been her for the past 6 years. There as been a lot of talk about her since she is notorious for destroying inflatable dingies and hauling out on marinas, where she has been harassed by people and even in 2019 was shot by a rifle in the face with luckily she survived and healed well.

Some people were saying things like "She could be dangerous" or "She does not belong here, she should be down in Antarctica" but due to rising sighting and breeding of leopard seals in New Zealand, evidence that they were common here in the 12 century (as evidenced from remains in Maori middens) and her almost becoming a bit of a local celebrity Leopard seals are now considering native rather than a vagrant species. This means she and the other Leopard seals living in New Zealand waters enjoy all the legal protection of native species under the Marine Mammal act.

Now from my research, it seams that Walrus lived in Iceland until going locally extinct in the 14th century, though I cant find anything about fossil remains in the British Isles. My thoughts would be to let Wally do his thing, make sure hes doing okay and if not, either take him in for rescue and release or let nature take its course.

 

I think that capture should be the last resort if 'Wally' becomes weak or is in danger for some reason: the capture of such a large creature in the water could be risky for walrus and humans alike. Provided that he remains in pretty good condition and capable of heading north, his progress should observed and he should be protected as far as possible from interference, but that is all.

 

@joe99 thank you for sharing the fascinating case of Owha the leopard seal! While walruses aren't currently visiting the British Isles with anywhere near the same frequency as leopard seals in New Zealand, I do genuinely believe that this will be changing in the future, following suit with the behavior of certain other Arctic pinniped species which have been traveling further south in gradually increasing numbers over the last couple of decades.

This is an excellent point. I could imagine that capture could be, as you said, fairly dangerous for all involved.

One thing I would be interested in is having him tagged to have more in-depth data available on his movements and behaviors across and under water.

 

Wally is a wild animal; wild animals will sometimes behave in unexpected ways. As a result, I do not think there is a case for “repatriation” unless on veterinary grounds, and if it could be done simply and effectively. Over an evolutionary timescale, some individuals will behave aberrantly and yet survive and thrive, possibly leading to distribution changes or even speciation.

 

I think the walrus should be scared off boats and ports in a least intrusive manner. If reacts to noise, OK. Then try shouting and waving. Then push off with a broom or a stick. Then a cattle prod.

Otherwise the walrus at some point will either injure itself, or annoy somebody sufficiently that it will be secretly shot or killed, or annoy everybody so that it will be officially killed.

The walrus was originally fed by curious people, and then not scared. So it was taught that it is OK to hang near people, climb on boats etc. This policy of doing absolutely nothing is dangerous to walrus, people around and property.

A similar situation was in the 2000s, when a first brown bear wandered into Germany since 100 years or so. It was allowed to do anything. Soon it learned to break open beehives and did other damage. Then it was shot dead.

Maybe it is because I come from a country which has uninterrupted record of living with big, dangerous animals. it is natural that bison or wolves are protected, but chased off crops or not allowed to eat livestock. I think even in Britain people know instinctively that a dog or a cat allowed to do anything will become unmanageable. There is a difference between being friendly to dogs and let them run and rest anywhere.

 

This is what I honestly believe to be currently taking place (or at least the very beginnings of such a process) with several Arctic pinniped species, including walruses. For example, in North Carolina no seals existed in the state prior to 1996 (that recently!) -- now some species are expected annual visitors in considerable numbers, and other species are showing up with increasing frequency each year, traveling ever farther south all the while. Interestingly, both phenomenons (NC seals and British walruses) seem to have begun with stray young rather than older animals.

 

Walruses historically occurred along the shores of Northern Europe, my hope is that Wally is the first of many reclaiming their former territory.

 

I'm not advocating for or against the use of a cattle prod in this situation, but I think if an individual were to exercise just a hint of common sense they'd be able to deduce the fact that a cattle prod or other electrical emission tool is a suggestion that could on a walrus while it's damaging port and residential dock infrastructure and not a tool to be used while the target is in the water. I also do not know if you've ever had the experience of working a herd of brahman cattle (the type of animal prods were originally designed for) fresh off the range land, but I can assure you I'd take the walrus and a 8 foot prod over a brahman pair and a 12 foot prod, again I'm not advocating for or against the use of a cattle prod in this instance, but I personally think it's best to come up with your own solution to an issue rather than just put down on someone that's actually making suggestions to remedy the situation.

 

Scaring it away won't help. It will just go and get into boats somewhere else as this behaviour replicates the natural one of hauling out to rest on ice floes. When it was at Tenby in Wales it used the lifeboat slipway and had to be encouraged to move by using a claxon horn as it was impeding the launching of the lifeboat. But it did not seem that bothered by being disturbed like that. Recently places its arrived at have provided inflated rubber rafts to encourage it not to climb into and damage boats.

I never heard of anyone feeding it? They eat clams and other molluscs from the seabed normally.

My opinion for its future would be if it doesn't move northward in the coming months, to capture and relocate it to a wild colony. He is lost where he is currently.

 

There is an interesting historical perspective on Wally. Britain was famous in the Roman period for its oysters, and until over-harvesting and pollution damaged the stocks shellfish were a large component of the British diet even in Victorian times. Given their food requirements, one wonders if walrus might have been more regular this far south of their breeding areas in the past. Many animals today have a very restricted range compared to where they lived before human predation became a serious impact on their populations, so is the restriction of walrus to arctic waters an artifact, at least in part?

 

Walruses did historically occur in the waters around Britain.

 

There are now two walruses traversing the coasts of Europe -- in addition to Wally, a young female has also been spotted! She's currently on the coast of Germany as of this morning.

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Speculation on this first started when a walrus was reported in the Isles of Scilly on August 23rd, while Wally was still confirmed to have been in Ireland.

It's believed by some that she may have been around as long or nearly as long as Wally has; I do have a recollection of seeing a female in the early days of this story before Wally became the most frequently sighted, I deeply regret not watching this story more closely from the start.

Wally himself hasn't been sighted in the past week, I believe.

 

Wally made the long journey up to Iceland, traveling well over a thousand miles from his last known location on August 30th! The source linked below expressed uncertainty about whether or not the Iceland animal was Wally, but this has since been confirmed by another organization.



Walrus update, now in south eastern Iceland Sept 19t. | Irish Whale and Dolphin Group

I imagine he'll likely be heading back to the Arctic now. What an incredible case this has been, I only regret that he was never tagged to collect further data.

 

The female walrus sighted in Germany and the Netherlands was given the name "Freya" by TV network Omrop Fryslân. The name was given to foster a sense of familiarity and respect with the public in the hopes of preventing harassment and other human-caused stressors on the animal. She had previously been called Wanda.

Walrus duikt weer op, ze krijgt de naam Freya

 

Any news one Wally?

 

As far as I know his last sighting was on September 28th in Iceland -- it's believed that he's now made his way back to the Arctic

 

Well, I wish him all the best