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in reply to Sarah Brown

the leading & fringe theories do seem to share the notion that however it started, the teenagers are doing it for fun, as a fad. I'll admit I thought it was funny for a moment when I first heard about it - but like you I then remembered that if humans start to think orcas are dangerous, that's gonna be nothing but bad for orcas, maybe everywhere.

& between this story & the increasing observation of 'shark hunts' ordinary people are beginning to remember orcas are apex predators.

in reply to FeralRobots

Mind I don't think it's great that we lose sight of the fact that apex predators are dangerous - we romanticize them, instead of treating them with the respect we should realize they've earned.
in reply to FeralRobots

in reply to Sarah Brown

@FeralRobots As a fellow sailor I appreciate your comments, but I’m skeptical that “A targeted cull of 2-3 individuals in 2019 would have stopped it.”
in reply to Sarah Brown

Here's hoping someone figures out how to make rudders taste indescribably bad to orcas.

(Thank you! Appreciate someone throwing some facts into the subject.)

in reply to Graydon

@graydon
Yes! There's gotta be nonlethal ways that work, or at least try them first. Humans are the most dangerous apex predator. #OrcaConservancy #OrcasGoneBad
in reply to Sarah Brown

certainly not the first time a bunch of asshole young dudes doing JUST A PRANK, BRO have ruined everything for everyone
in reply to neville park

Saw recent post of AIUI teenage male chimps attacking and successfully predating on a small band of gorillas.

Many human cultures had lengthy physically exacting rituals for teenage males.

youtube.com/watch?v=dHz4FYn-_e…

This entry was edited (1 year ago)
in reply to Sarah Brown

Surely people can be a bit more inventive rather than resorting to a cull and creating an antagonistic relationship between Orca and people. Orca interact with people every day here and they're never aggressive or destructive. But we did have a leopard seal that liked biting boats we learned to work around her. Maybe find something that gets in their way or otherwise puts them off without causing them pain.
in reply to CooperJ

@CooperJ this has been going on for about 4 years, and various such things have been tried (slowly reversing, different sounds, etc), but they always seem to adapt.

The authorities won’t help. They seem utterly uninterested, and it is likely going to take human deaths to get them to act, or maybe not even that. There are some marine researchers trying to look into it, but it’s kinda small scale.

If the first people they kill are leisure boaters, then there will likely be a bigger push for action. If the first people they kill are fishermen, then I suspect we’ll just start seeing orcas washing up ashore with bullets in them.

Eva Chanda reshared this.

in reply to Sarah Brown

@CooperJ Have someone tried painting the rudders in a zebra pattern? Just my 5 cents.