An Arctic walrus spotted far from home on the Kerry coast in March has returned to Ireland’s shores, this time in Waterford.
After moving on to the Welsh coast in late March, the marine mammal affectionately nicknamed Wally was subsequently tracked to Cornwall, La Rochelle in France and the Isles of Scilly.
Then this past Bank Holiday Monday (2 August), the walrus was discovered in Clonea, Co Waterford by Cormac Walsh, whose photos were confirmed by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).
Wally the walrus caught napping on a RIB in Ardmore, Co Waterford on Tuesday 3 August | Credit: Charles Coughlan/IWDG
More recently Wally has been caught napping on a RIB moored in Ardmore, and it’s expected he will continue his journey west into East Cork in the coming days.
However, the IWDG sounds a note of caution for anyone hoping to catch a glimpse of Wally on his South Coast adventures.
“There is a serious side to this, as this amimal is a long way from home and we’ve no way of knowing whether it is stressed, and how it may react to stressful situations,” IWDG sightings officer Pádraig Whooley says.
“So we’d ask everyone who wants to see this rare Arctic visitor to respect its space, as it’s important that we come out the other end of this episode without injury to people or animal…even if we can’t guarantee he won’t sink a few boats!”
Tracking the walrus’ journey from Kerry to France and back to Ireland — a distance of around 2,000km | Credit: IWDG
