Please always remember to give wildlife space, and put their safety and welfare first! "Thanks to his ability to feed and rest, he has successfully made the long stretch and will hopefully reunite with his own kind again soon. Wally the walrus has been spotted in the Isles of Scilly (Image: Will Wagstaff) "We are so grateful to the many members of the public who have shown support and love for this walrus by giving him a safe place to rest and gather his strength while visiting our shores ahead of this magnificent journey. He was seen swimming back out to sea, and even managed to avoid sinking any boats while he was there! The statement added: "We are absolutely over the moon that he's not only still alive and well, but he is well on his way home to the Arctic. They noted the similar scars on the front of both front flippers. "After conferring and comparing photos with our friends at British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), it has been confirmed that THIS IS WALLY!" However, we just received notice that a similar-looking walrus was sighted yesterday in Iceland. He was first spotted in Wales in March and has since visited the Cornwall, France, Isles of Scilly, Spain and Ireland.Ī post on Facebook from Seal Rescue Ireland said: "We were starting to lose hope of ever seeing the young, wandering walrus again. Read more: Wally the Walrus sinks two boats as desperate plans are made to end his carnage His last known location was in West Cork, but the Irish organisation is delighted to have found him more than 900 miles away and closer to the Arctic. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.Wally the Walrus has made an epic journey of more than 900 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to reach Iceland.Īfter 22 days with no confirmed sightings, the good news was confirmed by Seal Rescue Ireland who compared photographs of a walrus spotted in the Nordic country with photographs of Wally, who made his home for a time in Tenby.
This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. GARCIA-NAVARRO: But no matter - to his human visitors, Wally is still a star far from home.Ĭopyright © 2021 NPR.
But our current walrus, unfortunately, does seem to have developed quite a habituation to being around people. We do occasionally get them visit from the Arctic. We've never had a walrus doing this before. JARVIS: And it is very unusual behavior as well. But if you introduce anything into a marine environment that's not from a native species, you can create wider issues. Unfortunately, there was a discussion around potentially using dung - bear dung. to have scents of items that have been played with by bears. LARBALESTIER: So we've contacted some zoos in the U.K. GARCIA-NAVARRO: So the Isles of Scilly hatched a plan to make sure Wally keeps his distance - things like acoustic deterrence and perfuming the air with the odor of Wally's natural predators. JARVIS: This is an island community, a working island community, where there's a lot of dependency on boats for people's livelihoods, so, you know, there has been quite a big impact on people who've been affected. He's damaged and even sunk several boats. GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that's because Wally likes to hop onto boats to digest and take a snooze. GARCIA-NAVARRO: But no longer, says Larbalestier's colleague, Dan Jarvis.ĭAN JARVIS: He's started to become, well, something of a nuisance, I suppose, in a way. So people were surprised to see him and excited to see an animal that they would never normally see in real life. LARBALESTIER: So, first of all, when Wally arrived, he was something of a novelty. GARCIA-NAVARRO: And it's not clear why Wally is spending so much time away from his normal Arctic habitat. He also visited France and Spain, and he's now in the Isles of Scilly. LARBALESTIER: It was quite a shock when he first was noticed going into Wales in Tenby. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Lizzi Larbalestier is with British Divers Marine Life Rescue. LIZZI LARBALESTIER: So Wally the Walrus is in completely the wrong place in the globe. He is more than a thousand pounds and very far from home. Mary Harbor and greeting an excited fan, as featured on the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Instagram feed. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Wally the Walrus there, poking his snout out of the St. That's a collection of islands off the coast of southwest England, popular with tourists of all kinds.
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