A beluga whale that lived off Norway's coast, who raised speculation that it was a Russian spy due to its harness, was not shot dead as claimed by animal rights groups but instead died of a bacterial infection, said Norwegian police on Friday, AP reported.

Norway's Veterinary Institute's final autopsy "concludes that the probable cause of death was bacterial infection -- possibly as a result of a wound in the mouth from a stuck stick," according to Amund Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and Environment section of the police in south-western Norway, AP reported.