She has become a burden, the huge walrus that came swimming to Kragerø’s skerries this winter. The sea animal, which weighs several hundred kilos, has already managed to destroy several boats in search of the ultimate resting place. This is a lady with a great need for comfort. She sleeps something like twenty hours a day. Get your own “ice floe” Earlier this week, the discussion raged about what should happen to the uninvited guest. The municipality, in consultation with experts, decided that a floating jetty could be used as a temporary solution. So far she has been completely uninterested. But the municipality’s employees do not give up so easily. Equipped with tarpaulin and weights, the Skjærgårdstjenesten on Thursday tried to carve a kind of imitation of an ice floe on the small island Moldholmen outside Ørvik Camping in Kragerø. The pier was covered in white, and the weights will ensure that it lies deep enough in the water that the walrus will hopefully be able to roll over in its new resting place. The municipality’s employees make “Ice flakes” for the walrus Freya. Here represented by Jan Petter Johannessen and Per Arvid «Pelle» Pedersen. Photo: Nils Fridtjof Skumsvoll / news Leader of the municipality’s archipelago service, Jan Petter Johannessen, is satisfied with the result. Whether “Freya” will actually be lured, he is more uncertain. – We have only solved the assignment we have been given for the day, namely to cover the pier with white tarpaulin and make it lie as deep in the water as possible. Leader of Kragerø municipality’s archipelago service, Jan Petter Johannessen. Photo: Nils Fridtjof Skumsvoll / news – How should it be lured? Can you cover up with some mussels and other temptations from the sea on the pier? – Almost someone else has to decide. It also finds its food on the seabed, he says, and admits that today’s mission is one of the more curious. – I slipped around on some ice floes as a boy, but have never tried to build one, he laughs. If the pier looks like an ice floe seen through the eyes of a walrus, he is very excited. – But it would have been fun then, if she actually used it. The archipelago service is excited about whether “Freya” will fall for its new “ice floe”. Photo: Per Ole Halvorsen There are no plans to move around the floating pier, although “Freya” has proven to be rather unpredictable with regard to the choice of resting place. – The pier will be here for the time being, he says. The municipality will now block off an area around the “ice floe”, so that Freya can be at peace. So the question is whether it is peace she is really looking for? – Will hardly work Lars Øyvind Knutsen is a researcher and documentary filmmaker in Arctic areas, and is well acquainted with the walrus’ behavior. He met “Freya” himself when it was in Smögen in Sweden last year. Lars Øyvind Knutsen is a documentary filmmaker in the Arctic, and is well acquainted with the walrus’ behavior. He has also met “Freya” in Smögen. Photo: Private – I drove forty miles to see her, he says. He has little faith that an imitation of an ice floe will make “Freya” stay away from densely populated areas. – It is difficult to trick an animal like this into doing what you want. Knutsen simply believes that “Freya” misses his flock, and therefore thrives best where people stay. A walrus must have a little life and stir to thrive, he explains. – She’s probably a little lonely.
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Here the municipality makes its own «Ice flake» for the walrus Freya – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
