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He/she is a pretty hefty walrus. Maybe the walrus is embarrassed to be seen in public eating more delicious fish. Why doesn't the guy offer to go on a nice walk with the walrus, and give the fish to a deserving otter along the way, which is something both the walrus and man might feel good about?
On the other hand, maybe the guy has been desperately trying to train this behavior by the walrus for years, and this is a joyous breakthrough moment, emotionally overcoming the walrus, and making the guy break out in a goofy grin and spontaneous patting behavior.
Or maybe some other walrus has recently been extremely cruel to the walrus hiding its face, and the response of the man in the photo is annoyingly and inappropriately cheerful, and the walrus wishes he'd just leave the fish and go away.
I really think we need more information in order to be sure we feel exactly how cute this is. That's the main drawback to Flickr. Pictures there often take a thousand words to explain.