WHERE'S WALLY?

hile China has been transfixed by the elephants trekking across Yunnan (FT407:4), Europe has spent the summer distracted by the antics of Wally the wandering walrus. Normally confined to the Arctic Circle, walruses do not usually venture as far south as the British Isles, but in mid-March one was spotted by Alan Houlihan and his daughter Muireann basking on on Valentia Island, County Kerry, Ireland. “The size of the thing was astronomical. It was the size of a big bull,” said Houlihan. “He disappeared into the sea for a while, and he then came back and put himself on a rock for a good couple of hours. It was fantastic.” The next day, though, there was no sign of the creature, and Marine biologist Kevin Flannery of Dingle Oceanworld Aquarium told the “This is the first confirmed sighting of a walrus.