Sailors are reporting a series of coordinated attacks by a group of orcas, with the latest strike on May 22 on a 26-foot vessel sailing off the coast of Cape Spartel, near the Strait of Gibraltar. Due to the continuous reports, observers say the Orcas appear to be teaching each other to attack boats. The new attack followed a nighttime strike on May 4.
Taking to the Facebook group, Orca Attack Reports, dedicated to flagging Orca activity, sailor JP Derunes wrote that six Orcas arrived, 2 adults, and 4 smaller ones, and destroyed as well as blocked the Boat to be hauled off later this week. The May 4th incident saw a Swiss yacht named Champagne sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar getting attacked by three Orcas.
Yacht, a German boating news outlet reported that the three Orcas stuck the Swiss yacht’s rudder, eventually sinking it. According to a study in the Journal of Marine Mammal Science, about 15 human-orca incidents were recorded in 2020, the year in which the encounters are believed to have begun. Most of the attacks included Orcas biting or striking the rudders of sailboats. No causalities appear to be reported.
Reportedly, the aggression may have been launched by a female Orca whom scientists have named White Gladis. As per ABC News, White Gladis has suffered a critical moment of agony such as a boat collision, which inflicted trauma on the orca trigging a behavioral switch that other killer whales have learned to imitate. However, the majority of orca-sailor encounters have been harmless.
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