Image Credit: Reddit
September 02, 2022 - 4:30 PM
QUADRA ISLAND - A pod of orcas surprised a group of friends visiting Quadra Island, B.C., last weekend, appearing metres from where they stood on the shoreline of Moulds Bay.
Erika van Sittert, who captured a video of the encounter, said she and her four friends were excited when they first spotted the pod in the distance.
She said they were then shocked when the whales appeared about 20 minutes later, coming within three metres of her friend Callum MacNab, standing ankle deep in the water.
Van Sittert, who had been seated on a rock above, said she was initially worried for MacNab's safety because of the whales' high-speed approach, but describes the encounter as "easily one of the most exciting moments" of her life.
"We had no idea the whales would actually come so close," she said in a message Friday. "I was mostly in awe, though, of what was unfolding. It took quite a while after the fact to actually process what had happened."
Jared Towers, a killer whale researcher with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, identified the pod as the T-090 family, which includes a mother, her adult son and two daughters.
"The two daughters, aged five and 12, were the two whales that came closest to the shore and rolled over on their sides to check out Callum on the shore," he said in an interview Friday.
Towers said he doesn't believe the whales had malicious intent and were likely either hunting and initially mistook the humans for prey, or were "just curious."
"They love hunting in that area (because) there's a lot of harbour seals, and that's really what makes up the bulk of their diet, and they hang out near shore," he said.
Towers noted there is no record of an orca killing a human in the wild.
"They're certainly masters of their own environment, and if there's anything swimming around out there, they want to check it out, see what it looks like and see if it is prey," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2022.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2022