Animals

Moment walrus attacks Russian Navy vessel that got too close to its calf


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This is the moment an angry female walrus protecting her calves attacked a Russian naval dinghy on an Arctic expedition.

Crew members were forced to fight off the huge beast with a pole before speeding back to shore.

The creature’s massive tusk pierced the Northern Fleet inflatable three times and it started rapidly taking on water.

The navy and the Russian Geographical Society were on a joint expedition to Franz Josef Land using the Altai expedition ship but deploying inflatables to go ashore.

Walruses, which can weigh up to 3,000 pounds and grow 3ft tusks, are said to be extremely protective of their young and it is reported the naval dinghy got too close for comfort.

One of the men is heard radioing the Altai to warn the eight crew members are in danger.

Crew members were forced to fend off the walrus with a pole (Picture: Sever Press; The Siberian Times)

As the boat speeds away from the walrus, the commanding officer says the ‘boat cylinders are pierced’ after they were ‘speared by a walrus’.

The men were later rescued by a boat sent from the Altai.

Crew member Leonid Kruglov said: ‘The walrus was not injured, we simply pushed her away.

‘But the boat was damaged, three out of five sections.

‘We only just made it to the shore.’

The Russian naval vessel speeds away from the walrus while taking on water (Picture: Sever Press; The Siberian Times)

A report by the society said: ‘She probably did it, fearing for her cubs.

‘The boat sank, but the tragedy was avoided thanks to the clear actions of the squad leader.

‘All the landing participants safely reached the shore.’

The expedition was retracing the steps on the Russian Arctic outpost of Austro-Hungarian explorer Julius von Payer, who discovered the archipelago in 1873, naming it after the Emperor Franz Joseph 1.





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