Free-range Walrus

Stena, also known as the Walrus of Hamina, was an Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) who unfortunately got lost in the Baltic sea and ended up in Finland. Upon landing in Hamina in Finland she stayed on the beach for a couple of days before getting caught in a fishing net, causing extensive damage to an expensive industrial fishing boat. She decided to swim up river in what is believed to be an attempt to look for food or maybe she was trying to flee from her crime, no one knows for sure.  Then, before the rescue vehicles were set in, she wandered quite deep onto land and into someone's backyard garden. Due to a lack of proper or recognizable food supply and probably stress as well, she had grown weak and moody, and by the time the authorities realized she was in dire need of help, she passed away in transport to the animal hospital. 

While I had been living in Finland at the time, I remember seeing her story on the news. It wasn’t until recently that I finally got the chance to meet her in the flesh. Yes, that's what it was- her flesh. And, she looked gorgeous! Magnificent and beautiful! Majestic even. Stena’s corpse had been frozen after her death and after long deliberation and debate, it was decided that her remains would be taxidermied. It took a year or so before Stena could be immortalized. Her presence in the museum is a powerful reminder of the chaotic entanglements that exist between life and death. Of the uncertainty that comes with trying to live life on a damaged planet. The scientists that reviewed her case believe she swam into the Baltic looking for food and as a result is now considered to be the ‘first confirmed free-ranging walrus’. 

I’m sure we have all heard of free-range chicken, grass-fed cows, and they even have a thing here in Finland where cows are left to graze in the forests. Stena’s acclaim to fame as a free-range walrus has left me with questions as to what it means for animals to express freedom. We’ve all heard stories of cows escaping the slaughter house, or animals raised in captivity being released back into the wild. Domestic pets who go missing for days, weeks even sometimes before returning home. Is this idea of ‘free-range’ something that belongs to the one doing the roaming, or is it a perception imposed onto others by those who dare not go beyond the confines of some socially predefined boundaries?