Claim:
A town in England canceled a New Year’s Eve fireworks show so a walrus could sleep.
Rating:
In December 2025, a story about humans adapting to accommodate nature spread around social media. The story, which was widely shared on Facebook (archived) and Instagram (archived), told the story of an English town that supposedly canceled its New Year’s Eve firework display to allow a walrus named Thor to rest in the town without disturbance. A similar story was shared on Facebook (archived) months earlier and was popular on Reddit (archived) about three years prior.
The story was true.
One of the Facebook posts provided references for the claim, including a BBC News article apparently titled “Town Cancels Fireworks to Protect Walrus.” This is a real BBC News article, albeit with the headline, “Scarborough’s New Year fireworks cancelled to protect walrus.” The article confirmed the basics of the story as shared on social media: In 2022, the English town of Scarborough canceled a New Year’s Eve fireworks display at the last minute over fears it could cause distress to a walrus, Thor, discovered “taking a break” in the town.
A photographer for Getty Images snapped several photos of Thor while it rested in Scarborough’s harbor, drawing crowds to catch a glimpse of it. A local news report corroborated the BBC’s version of events, as did articles from the marine animal rescue group that helped protect the walrus, the Smithsonian Magazine and The Guardian.
But those details were just the tip of the iceberg that was the Arctic mammal’s journey around the coastline of the United Kingdom.
Thor began his adventure having been spotted in France and the Netherlands in November 2022 — already a newsworthy occurrence due to how rare it is to spot a walrus in Western Europe. By early December, Thor had made his way to a resting place near Southampton in southern England.
“Walrus travel long distances and have rest stops to recover and regain energy before moving on again,” wrote British Divers Marine Life Rescue, a marine life rescue group, at the time. “Every time it is disturbed by people being too close or noisy will impact its chance of survival.” Since 1988, U.K. law has protected walruses from “intentional disturbance while occupying a structure or place used for shelter or protection.” Walrus sightings are rare in the U.K., but not unprecedented; two visited the U.K. in 2021.
BDMLR was already monitoring the walrus after it appeared in southern England. So when Thor next appeared in the English town of Scarborough late into the evening on Dec. 30, 2022, locals conservation groups called BDMLR to help with the response to the walrus’ arrival. And that was where BDMLR’s detailed account of Thor’s visit to Scarborough began.
BDLMR’s first step was securing the area to give the walrus space from people. After just a few hours of sleeping at its chosen spot around the town’s harbor, the walrus woke up and moved towards the water, as if it was about to keep its stay short and swim off again. Instead, Thor found a new, more comfortable place to rest not far from the first and fell right back asleep in the new spot.
Thor’s presence in Scarborough began drawing attention after sunrise the next morning. BDLMR wrote of the day that transpired:
At all times the crowd was at least 350 thick, at one point seemingly over 500 people were there with more bodies continually appearing from all avenues, roads, and even bus trips. It is estimated several thousand people were in attendance over the whole day though likely far more. Thor continued to sleep, having an occasional reposition and brief look around. It was noticed during the night that he was agitated by a few noisy vehicles passing with bright lights. This led us to consider the New Years Eve firework display due to be held in close proximity to Thor’s location, and the New Years Day annual dip. The NYD Dip would continue to monitor the ongoing situation and would put plans in place to ensure all parties safety if the Walrus was still resting on the harbour. BDMLR HQ spoke with the local Council & Liaison Officers who explained the situation regarding fireworks to all council members who without reservation agreed the firework display would likely cause stress and alarm to the Walrus, and therefore was cancelled without hesitation. This was an incredible step forward for animal welfare which has been tremendously backed by the public, official parties, and the media.Â
Ultimately, such precautions to protect the newest local celebrity were unnecessary. “By 4pm Thor was becoming slightly more active, and at 4.30pm he sat up, turned around, and promptly slid off into the harbour,” BDLMR wrote. “A cheer erupted from the crowd, while BDMLR Medics scrambled with radios to track which direction he went.”
Thor exited the harbor that day and a few days later booked an overnight stay at the town of Blyth, which is about 70 miles north of Scarborough. In late February, Thor stopped in Iceland before continuing his journey elsewhere.
A photo of Thor lounging on the Scarborough harbor later won a runner-up award in the urban wildlife category of the British Wildlife Photography Awards. It’s not easy to get someone’s good side while they sleep, but Thor seemed to be quite the photogenic muse.
