Orcas make ‘grocery’ trip to downtown Vancouver
Global News
A family of killer whales has made a rare trip into waters off downtown Vancouver for what an expert says was likely a "grocery shopping" hunt for harbour seals.
A family of killer whales has made a rare trip into waters off downtown Vancouver for what an expert says was likely a “grocery shopping” hunt for harbour seals.
Video shared on social media by False Creek Ferries shows the whales cruising past highrise towers at the entrance to False Creek on Sunday.
The captain of the ferry, Jack Hemsworth said the passengers on board were stunned as the whales’ dorsal fins cut through the surface. He put the engine into neutral as the whales glided by.
“I’ve never been that close, even on like a whale watching tour,” said Hemsworth, adding that at one point, the whales passed within five feet of his little vessel, which was crossing from the West End in Vancouver to Kitsilano Beach.
The boats in the ferry fleet are only about 20 feet long — smaller than most adult orcas.
Andrew Trites, director of the University of British Columbia’s marine mammal research unit, has identified the whales as a family group of transient orcas consisting of a mother and her three offspring.
Trites said the video shows the whales moving quietly like “ghosts” to avoid alerting their prey.
“They’re on the hunt, and so they don’t want to make a big splash about it. They want to come in very stealthy-like, as though they weren’t even there,” said Trites.
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