LA CONNER, Wash. - Whale watchers caught a rare sight on Sunday. They saw a pod of transient Orcas attack a gray whale.
Whale experts say it's common for Orcas to hunt gray whale calves off the coast of California, but to attack an adult this far inland is rare, and to get footage of it is even rarer.
Wendy Hensel from Chilliwack, British Columbia, shot footage of transient Orcas early Sunday afternoon. She was with a group of recreational whale watchers on the La Conner-based Mystic Sea who were tailing a female gray whale along Saratoga Passage between Camano and Whidbey Islands.
"It's breathtaking," Hensel said, as she watched the sequence again. "It was amazing how fast they were going."
"The captain said a group of Orca whales were coming behind us so watch out," said Noela Graham.
"We could see the Orcas were in a direct line for the gray whale," said Captain Monte Hughes.
Witnesses said just before 1 p.m., the Orcas got about 100 yards from the gray whale, then they all submerged. In the video, you see a short while later when the gray whale resurfaced, belly up. It then jerks upward like it's being hit from underwater, sentiment echoed by experts from Orca Network who viewed the video.
They said the Orcas then took off, away from the gray whale, leaving it there.
Capt. Hughes, says in 20 years he's never seen anything quite like it.
"The whale got jerked back and forth you know, two or three times," he said. "You could definitely tell the Orcas were attacking her, and evidently they had hit her as she was on her way up."
"She just laid there a little, then rolled around to about 10 degrees, trying to right herself... but she was just floundering there in the water," added Hughes.
Experts from the Orca Network say they've received several reports this season about transient Orcas attacking gray whales.
"Eventually, it rolled back onto its stomach and swam towards the beach, and that was it," said whale watcher Skip Hawk.
Orca Network said until this past month, they had never had any reports of Orcas attacking gray whales this far into Puget Sound. In the past few weeks, they've received three, including the one caught on camera Sunday.
Orca Network tells KING-5 they did get one report from someone who later spotted the gray whale acting strangely in nearby shallow waters, but it soon left the area and was not seen afterward.
Whale experts followed the Orca pod further inland to Penn Cove, where the Orcas were heading toward another group of gray whales.
Susan Berta of Orca Network said Monday they believe the whale that was attacked is gray whale No. 49, also known as "Patch," who was identified and named by Cascadia Research in 1991.
She said from the large white patch on its back and light colors on his flukes, Patch is one of the most easily identified of the "local" N. Puget Sound gray whales.
Patch is between 25 and 30 years old.
Berta said at about 12:30 Monday, they got word that Patch was located off South Gedney Island with several other Gray whales and he looked OK.
People can help out by calling in whale sightings (grays or orcas) to the Orca Network at 1-866-ORCANET
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