A rare sighting of a walrus was reported to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue hotline on Saturday 31 January near Elie, Fife.
From photos sent by the observer it could be seen the animal appeared healthy and was hauled out resting on the rocks. On discussion it was agreed that the sighting would not be immediately shared publicly to protect the animal’s welfare from large crowds, drones and more that would have needed active management and likely resulted in disturbance, which has been the case with previous sightings.
The regional Area Coordinator team were alerted and helped monitor the animal for the rest of the day while the area remained very quiet and the animal was able to safely go about its business unhindered. The following morning the walrus had left and has so far not been resighted.
Walruses are an occasional visitor to UK and European shores, with sightings seemingly increasing in recent years. This has prompted fears that this is a symptom of climate change as they lose their ice habitat in the Arctic and are forced further afield.
In the past few years three well-known individuals named Wally, Freya and Thor have all passed through the UK, hauling out in several locations. They sometimes spent weeks in the area where they became significant public attractions requiring intensive management from BDMLR, other organisations and authorities. Sadly, incidents of disturbance still occurred despite the presence of volunteers, Police and statutory body staff as a small minority of people wilfully ignored cordons and direct advice on watching respectfully.
Wally and Thor were later seen in Iceland. Freya moved on to Norway, where the authorities decided to shoot her after failing to employ crowd control measures, instead claiming she was the one that was causing danger to people despite no aggressive behaviour on her part and was in fact regularly victim to abusive and harassing behaviour herself.
We hope this latest individual has moved northwards back towards the normal habitat for this species and is able to continue their journey safely without intervention.