According to RÚV, a walrus which appeared yesterday at a pier in the southeastern town of Höfn in Hornafjörður has now disappeared. The majestic animal attracted a lot of attention from the townspeople during its visit.
According to the chief of police in Höfn, Jón Garðar Bjarnason, the walrus was last seen at midnight. When they were trying to greet the animal the next morning, it was gone.
The walrus caused quite a rush to the pier among the townspeople, who flocked to the place to meet the new member of town. Jón Garðar says that it liked the attention it got but made itself heard if people ventured too close to it.
The walrus hasn’t damaged the pier in any way, since its molar teeth hadn’t grown to their full size yet. “It seems to me that this isn’t a very old walrus, because its teeth aren’t that big”, Jón Garðar speculates. According to Jón Garðar, another walrus appeared some years ago in Höfn, but they surely aren’t regular visitors here in Iceland anymore.
Iceland once had its own breed of walrus, but they were wiped out by the settlers, as Grapevine has previously reported. Today, walruses occasionally wonder to Icelandic shores, but aren’t permanent residents of the country.
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