Sand sculpture created in Seahouses as tribute to Freya the walrus

Freya visited Seahouses in November 2021 but was controversially euthanised by the Norwegian authorities earlier this month after she was declared a ‘threat to human safety’.

The idea to create the tribute to Freya on St Aidan's beach, came from sand artist Claire Eason and Moira Redhead from Newbiggin Dolphin Watch.

Moira said: “Claire from Soul2Sand contacted me as admin of Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Dolphin Watch asking what I thought of the idea of creating a piece of sand art for our Facebook community/members so we could remember Freya after her awful unnecessary death.

"We have worked with Claire before and her pieces are stunning. I immediately said yes as I knew our members would love it and appreciate it and so would the wider community.

“It was decided the best place to create the art work would be at Seahouses where Freya visited.

"Yesterday morning Claire, myself members from British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR); group members and the wider community all met at Seahouses so we could now only see the sand art take place but also contribute to the design as our way to remember Freya.

"It was a very special, emotional morning. People are very upset and angry about the way Freya's life was unnecessarily ended and we thought this may help people. We also hope it creates a legacy by being publicised and that the awful ending Freya had will not happen again.”

BDMLR has also written a letter to the Norwegian Government calling for ‘transparency’.

In an open letter and petition, they state: ‘We would like answers as to why more could not be done, what barriers prevented non-lethal methods from being used to keep her safe and more to understand why this happened the way it did.

‘There is a lot to learn from this incident and having these answers we hope will ensure that incidents like this are not repeated in the future and animals such as Freya are allowed more opportunities to be protected.’

More than 1,500 people have now signed the petition calling for legislation and protocols to be put in place to ensure a case like Freya never happens again.

Visit https://www.change.org/p/help-ensure-protection-for-climate-change-refugees-like-freya