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While Hvaldimir seems free to roam, Hvaldimir’s situation is unique and complex. He is a trained whale who has become habituated to humans. Although captured from the wild when he was young, Hvaldimir was conditioned and trained by a Russian military research facility and can no longer be considered a wild whale. Hvaldimir primarily travels when following boats, and his choices are limited by the conditioning he received when captured from the wild and placed in a training program. 

His limited travel does not reflect the natural ranges of wild whales who avoid humans and boats, and his conditioned behaviors such as wrapping objects around propellers, chewing on ropes and metal chains, and seeking out human interaction put him at risk daily. While some individual wild whales and dolphins can become isolated from their family groups and show curiosity towards humans (e.g., solitary sociable cetaceans), Hvaldimir does not fit this definition because he is a trained whale who has reclaimed his ability to forage on his own but does not live independently of salmon farms and human contact. 

Since Hvaldimir is not a wild whale, he behaves like some lost or abandoned domesticated animals. Instead of avoiding people, he seeks them out. Beluga whales are very social animals who do not normally live alone. Even in his former captivity with the Russian military, he was with many people and other whales every day and is doing his best to cope with being displaced by meeting his needs for companionship.