Y'know, what would it take for an orca attack on a human to be "proven?"
A lot of folks with no incentive to lie have reported attacks by orcas.


Peter Wiley wrote:
What sort of attacks? I've read the accounts of Scott's party in
Antarctica where they thought killers were trying to get at them on the
ice - they had horses (ponies) with them at the time.

Yep. Almost every polar expedition reports similar, horses/ponies or
not. Old time whalers reported a fair number of the same, although in
some cases it's not clear if they were talking about orcas or sharks. I
have in mind an incident occurring sometime in the mid-1850s with one of
the first New England whalers in the Bering Sea... an orca (positively
identified by the reported physical characteristics) deliberately
stalking & sinking whaleboat, and eating some of the crew. A couple were
survivors rescued out of the water by a companion whaleboat.

There are many reported similar episodes, but the one that stands out in
my mind and one that includes a very clear description of a killer
whale. Is this "documented"? I'm not claiming so, but I'm not dismissing
it lightly either.


... Killers certainly
are curious, smart and well equipped.

Yep. IMHO orcas & dolphins... probably a number of cetaceans... are as
smart as we are (well, some of us).


....I'm not aware of any attacks by
killers on humans, tho, and not any where the people were in the water.

Well, it depends on how much & what type of reading you do, and whether
you believe the stories. IMHO even if you dismiss a large percent of
stories of killer whales eating people, there's a large enough body of
evidence to say that it's probably happened once or twice.

OTOH there are a lot of cases where great white sharks have taken
people for food, ditto leopard seal attacks on people in Antarctica.


Oh yeah. Leapard seals are mean critters.


I'm off to dry dock this afternoon, see you guys in a week or 2. Have
fun ignoring the flonkies.


What's a "flonkie"? Are they like a horvath, only not as well trained?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King