Orcas haven't sunk enough boats.
Btw, 'nitwits' wasn't the first word that came to mind.
Btw, 'nitwits' wasn't the first word that came to mind.
Nitwits + orcas
- Thread starter Helix
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2010
- Messages
- 1,737
- Reaction score
- 6,655
- Location
- East Yorks, England
- Website
- dave-blake.uk
Are the Darwin Awards still a thing? This sounds like a contender.
Are there no rules about harassing the wildlife?
I tell you what, of all the wildlife I never want to tick off, Orcas are right up there with ravens and crows. They remember stuff. Revenge will be had.
Are there no rules about harassing the wildlife?
I tell you what, of all the wildlife I never want to tick off, Orcas are right up there with ravens and crows. They remember stuff. Revenge will be had.
Gee, and then they wonder why the Spanish orcas started to damage and sink boats. 
"It must be to some totally unforseen and unfortunate accident," they hypothesise... No, you dolts, it's because someone's been a stupid bastard like this to them, that's why.
We just haven't realised how lucky we are that one of the marine apex predators has never put us on the menu like so many other apex predators have. We're talking about massive toothed whales here that hunt in pods, life as long as early humans and remember! Do you really want to mess with that?! Here be monsters. Can you imagine how our sea-faring history would gone if the orcas hadn't left us alone like they did until now? We wouldn't have such a history. We'd be et and what remained would stay the hell away from cold waters as if our life depended on it, which it would have.
"It must be to some totally unforseen and unfortunate accident," they hypothesise... No, you dolts, it's because someone's been a stupid bastard like this to them, that's why.We just haven't realised how lucky we are that one of the marine apex predators has never put us on the menu like so many other apex predators have. We're talking about massive toothed whales here that hunt in pods, life as long as early humans and remember! Do you really want to mess with that?! Here be monsters. Can you imagine how our sea-faring history would gone if the orcas hadn't left us alone like they did until now? We wouldn't have such a history. We'd be et and what remained would stay the hell away from cold waters as if our life depended on it, which it would have.
The article says the Department of Conservation tracked him down and fined him $600, that it was a "clear breach of the Marine Mammals Protection Act." I think some of his boating buddies should have been fined as well!
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2011
- Messages
- 23,458
- Reaction score
- 11,827
- Location
- Where faults collide
- Website
- doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
We have the marine mammal protection act in the US, which prohibits humans from interfering with these animals, or even from approaching too closely, outside of certain scientific and rescue contexts. It's hard to imagine New Zealand wouldn't have similar laws. Sounds like he got fined, at least. He's lucky he didn't piss that whale off.
Note, sometimes the animals put themselves in our way. I have a colleague who was kayaking down in Monterrey who nearly bumped into what he thought was a mat of seaweed. To his shock, the bundle of flotsam reared up in the water, bared its teeth and roared before swimming off. Turns out it was a sea otter. They are surprisingly large up close, and those teeth are very sharp! He, the colleague (no idea what the otter's sex was or if it felt bad later), felt rather bad about it after his heart stopped pounding.
Moral of the story, wear your glasses, even while Kayaking.
Sea otters are still a lot smaller than orcas. Law aside, it's beyond stupid to jump in the water near a whale on purpose. It seems that there is a personality type that is addicted to adrenaline (and concurrent dopamine surges) or something and therefore resort to increasingly stupid and dangerous antics to get their high. Maybe that guy should take up sky diving (or simply stay at home and shoot himself up with epi pens).
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2022
- Messages
- 1,171
- Reaction score
- 3,625
Orca: Nice body slam. MY TURN.
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2011
- Messages
- 23,458
- Reaction score
- 11,827
- Location
- Where faults collide
- Website
- doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2011
- Messages
- 23,458
- Reaction score
- 11,827
- Location
- Where faults collide
- Website
- doggedlywriting.blogspot.com
Seriously. I know a gal who has a sort of war on with the crows that sometimes come to her yard. Far from being discouraged by her chasing, throwing things, and yelling at them, they have been increasingly noisy and messy. Lately they've taken to washing, and sometimes leaving, dead baby mice in her bird bath.
I do suspect they are doing it "on purpose," just to tick her off.
Orcas, at least, can't come after you where you live. Unless it's on a boat, I suppose.
Of course the crows are doing it to tick her off! Otherwise they'd eat the dead mice!
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2021
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 147
I always found it humbling that the southern resident orcas have been so tolerant and willing to get along with the humans around them in spite of them being the primary targets for having their children captured and sold to water parks, and even having some of their members killed in the process. A relative used to captain a whale watch boat and the same individual whales who experienced that mistreatment always made a bee-line for his boat when he’d cut the engine and lower a microphone into the water. They recognize the individual boats and seemed to like yelling into the microphone. Like orca karaoke or something.Gee, and then they wonder why the Spanish orcas started to damage and sink boats.
We just haven't realised how lucky we are that one of the marine apex predators has never put us on the menu like so many other apex predators have. We're talking about massive toothed whales here that hunt in pods, life as long as early humans and remember! Do you really want to mess with that?! Here be monsters. Can you imagine how our sea-faring history would gone if the orcas hadn't left us alone like they did until now? We wouldn't have such a history. We'd be et and what remained would stay the hell away from cold waters as if our life depended on it, which it would have.
Heh, every intelligent being will at one point reach the point of wanting to scream into the void.
Totally relatable, yelling orca. You tell us where things are at.
Totally relatable, yelling orca. You tell us where things are at.
"Take this message to your people: Set our people free!" Followed by a lengthy political/environmental diatribe that we misidentify as 'singing'.
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2024
- Messages
- 787
- Reaction score
- 951
Where I live in Cape Town there are many, many seals. Sometimes they come up on the beach to doze or sleep. One tourist thought a seal need must need help (it was sleeping) and she tried to roll it into the sea. The seal bit her in the face. I feel sorry for the woman but I was like "Really? You thought a seal needed help getting into the water?"
There's news footage somewhere (but can I find it? no I cannot) of a leopard seal resting on a beach near Melbourne. The footage shows a woman throwing a bucket of water over the snoozing seal, followed by an enraged seal chasing her up the beach. If I could find it, I'd dub Yakety Sax over it.
She got away.
Leopard seals have very nasty teeth.
ETA: Leopard seal stuff here. (Not the vid; this is more recent.) There's a very sad story at the end.
She got away.
Leopard seals have very nasty teeth.
ETA: Leopard seal stuff here. (Not the vid; this is more recent.) There's a very sad story at the end.
I don't think I've said this in this thread, but California coastal towns have to regularly remind people not to PUT THEIR CHILDREN on the sunbathing sea lions for photos.
The same thing happens in the Everglades with alligators, and in state parks where there are buffalo and moose.
My own grandmother... it's a well-known family story that she spent days warning my mom, aunt and uncle not to the feed the bears when they got to Yellowstone. Made them repeat it and promise not to roll the windows down if a bear came close to the car. They get there. A young bear ambles over, and GUESS WHO tried to stick her hand out the window and nearly got her fingers bitten off because the cub thought she was handing it treats like the other yahoos who do things like that?
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2021
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 147
We see seals a lot around here but mostly harbor seals and a few sea lions, and they mostly keep to themselves. I can’t imagine people trying to put kids on one of those guys and thinking it’s a good idea! My old dog liked swimming next to my kayak and I had to keep him in a life jacket with a tether to my boat so I could pull him in quick because once in a while a seal would grab a leg and try to pull him under.
Harbour seals, in particular, look placid and peaceful, laying on the shore, basking in the sun, or heads bobbing up and down in the water.
It masks the fact that they aren't some kind of grey sheep.
Seals and sea lions are all predators, with the sharp teeth that go with catching and eating swimming fish. Panicky swimming fish. And they don't want competing predators like dogs in the water with them, especially if the seals have young to protect.
OKAY! Necro-ing a thread, because this is where the orca stories apparently go!
A happy, joyous orca story! (Members in Washington/Oregon and Southern BC may have seen this on the news, and someone more technologically adept may be able to link to it.)
History: 50 years ago Killer Whales were rounded up and sold into captivity, for our entertainment.
A particularly awful case was 'Penn Cove' in Washington state.
In 1970, entire family, (L pod) was rounded up (herded by motor boats, explosives and small planes). The young, cute trainable ones were snatched up for a lifetime of solitary confinement in aquariums, for the entertainment of humans.
The rest were released, except for the ones that drowned struggling, tangled in the capture nets. (Whales are mammals - they have to be able to reach the air to breathe.) Thank the people behind the mass capture cared? If the orcas weren't little and trainable, they were useless. To humans.
The remains of the family groups (pods) fled the area, and did not return for fifty years, no matter how good the salmon runs were. This week, for the first time in over 50 years the L pod family returned to their ancestral waters.
Possibly because most of the older Killer Whales who were there at the time have died, leaving young whales with no direct experience or memories of the events.
But, I wish them long and happy, fishful lives.
A happy, joyous orca story! (Members in Washington/Oregon and Southern BC may have seen this on the news, and someone more technologically adept may be able to link to it.)
History: 50 years ago Killer Whales were rounded up and sold into captivity, for our entertainment.
A particularly awful case was 'Penn Cove' in Washington state.
In 1970, entire family, (L pod) was rounded up (herded by motor boats, explosives and small planes). The young, cute trainable ones were snatched up for a lifetime of solitary confinement in aquariums, for the entertainment of humans.
The rest were released, except for the ones that drowned struggling, tangled in the capture nets. (Whales are mammals - they have to be able to reach the air to breathe.) Thank the people behind the mass capture cared? If the orcas weren't little and trainable, they were useless. To humans.
The remains of the family groups (pods) fled the area, and did not return for fifty years, no matter how good the salmon runs were. This week, for the first time in over 50 years the L pod family returned to their ancestral waters.
Possibly because most of the older Killer Whales who were there at the time have died, leaving young whales with no direct experience or memories of the events.
But, I wish them long and happy, fishful lives.