SORRY FREYA, WE FAILED YOU.

Freya, we’ve let you down today. We’ve let ourselves down. There never has been and never will be an excuse good enough for taking a life. If I could’ve done something to save you, I’d have done that and a hundred other things. I’m sorry.

Life blooms on the surface of the earth in all sizes- from as big as a blue whale to as small as an amoeba. It spreads, lush and green, into the centre of every heart and nucleus and leaf. And that’s how we humans have always viewed it- a story that is constantly unfolding, so impossibly beautiful that we worship it. Though we are subject to the divides of heritage, where each culture has its own set of beliefs, there’s some common ground; the beginning and the end of any life is in the hands of the universe, not ours. This brings in the question posed by the death of Freya, the walrus.

A lot of people think that walruses are savage brutes because of their intimidating size and their tusks. We forget that in the end, they’re just animals who, like everybody else on this earth, just want a friend. Walruses are, to say the least, colossal. They look like they’d kill you in one fell stroke of their flipper. But that isn’t actually the case, because though walruses are creatures of many ways, hostility towards humans is not one of them. Sure, they’re aggressive during mating season, but what animal isn’t? The only time they’re aggressive with humans is when we violate their personal space, meaning that they won’t be hostile unless we’re hostile to them first. Like absolutely any other animal; except humans, who are hostile without any rhyme or reason.

The story of Freya sets its roots in the Oslo Fjord, Norway - a place of many attractions, overflowing with tourists all year round. Of course, she spent time not only in Norway but also in other countries, such as Denmark, Germany and Sweden. Freya, named after Freja (the Norse goddess of love and family), was adored by all who laid eyes on her. Unfortunately, in today’s world, humans prevail but humanity does not.

Freya was killed by Norwegian officials on the morning of 14th August, 2022, causing an uproar all over the world. The justification the officials provided for killing her was that tourists were repeatedly invading her personal space and thus she could be a risk to life. But the thing is, Freya hadn’t harmed a single person up until the moment she was killed.

Relocating Freya, they said, was a complex and costly procedure which could harm her, and there was a chance that she would not be accepted by other herds of walruses and they might harm her as well, so they chose to “put her down” instead! They could very well have implemented a fine on tourists for coming closer than the safety radius of, say, three metres. Why take the life of an innocent animal instead? Just who are we to decide to end someone's life? Saying that if we place her with other walruses, those other walruses could kill her, so let's kill her instead! Doesn't it boil down to this simplified explanation?

There are also questions regarding the morality of the reason the Norwegian government gave for not relocating her- are finances more important to them than a blameless life? Would they make this same decision if Freya was a human and not a walrus? Does the loss of an individual of an already shrinking species not mean anything to them? These questions bring about clarity of how audacious mankind has become, deeming itself a species worthy enough to decide when another creature’s life should be ended. This very hubris of our species, this very arrogance, will be our downfall. May not be an economic downfall, but a moral downfall for sure.