– The fire service now leaves it alone until it wants to go out itself, said duty officer at Sør-Øst 110, Tom Berger on Saturday night. And on Sunday morning, the walrus did just that; left the boat. But Saturday was a special day for Kragerø Brannvesen. The fire brigade first flushed the large animal into the water. – But it swam up in the boat again. So now it will be allowed to lie there until it wants to go out itself, Berger said. He thought it was the same walrus that has been in the district for a while. He reminds that it has been announced earlier that it should be allowed to be at peace. On Sunday morning, the walrus has left the resting place in Stabbestad. Photo: Per Ole Halvorsen The walrus has raised Arvid Nilsen, fire chief in Grenland fire and rescue says they do not know where the animal is now. – We have no more knowledge of the walrus after we left the place yesterday. The fire brigade will not do anything more with either the walrus or the boat. – The walrus is not our area. The boat does not represent an environmental hazard. From our side, no further measures will be taken, says Nilsen. Did not want out Tuva Schøyen Grue owns the boat. She was in family company when she received a picture of the walrus sent from a cabin neighbor. – Neither I nor my family are in Kragerø, so we can not do much with it. The 20-year-old knows that the fire brigade has flushed water on it, and that it jumped out of the boat and into another boat, and then swam back again and jumped into her boat again. – Yes, now I think it just lies there, and that we can not do anything until it simply moves. Punctured the boat Trine Thommesen and the family were on their way from Stabbestad and were going to visit their father-in-law when they noticed the boat that was heavily in the water. – Suddenly we see that the rubber boat had punctured and had a large tear at the back because there was a large walrus up. It was asleep and continued to sleep when we drove by, says Thommesen. – Of course it’s a shame but it’s kind of a little fun too. So I do not quite know what to think about it really, says the boat owner to news. She hopes they can soon get the boat ashore to see if it is possible to repair the 16-foot-long rib. Now it must have a name, laughs Grue: – No, we must invent something funny. There was one in the family company who suggested “Ross”. Blocked by the area Per Ole Halvorsen tells of many spectators who wanted to see the walrus. – There were also a number of drunk people who come and try to sort it out. A drunk man tried to pull the boat up so the walrus could get out. But he got angry and gave up when several people tried to talk him out of it. Halvorsen says that several people have been close to the large animal to take pictures. – There was someone who tried to pat it, but then milled it. They can be dangerous, warns Halvorsen, who called the Norwegian Environmental Protection Agency (SNO) to warn about people’s behavior. Espen Marker in SNO says he contacted the Coast Guard to get them to block the place so no one would go out with the walrus. – We have been out and asked people to pull away. And then we have set up barricades around the area. It is a 500 kilo predator, says Sigbjørn Vågene in the Coast Guard to news.
ttn-69
Moved out to walrus in boat
