From "Chapter IX: Unbridled Greed, Horrific Consequences"

Orcas Attack Seal with Waves


Video courtesy 'firpeace', September 6, 2006
What are the orcas doing? Where are they? His body was shaking uncontrollably, as much from fear as from the temperature of the ice on and the water penetrating his heavy clothes.

He again looked left and right.

A minute passed.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it . . . a wall of water, a 15-ton, 4-foot-high wall of seawater!

Rodríguez barely had time to comprehend what was happening when the wave hit, thrusting him and the dead seal into the air and down the backside of the ice into the water. Instantly he felt a sharp pain in his left chest, an excruciating pain that took his breath away. The numbing cold of the ice-laden water had stopped his heart. Before his hands could reach his chest, the jaws of a 6-ton killer whale clamped down on his waist. The orca's 3-inch-long teeth ripped through his clothes, the whale's jaws crushing his flesh and bones.

Shaking him violently, the killer dove instinctively for the depths with its prey, dragging Rodríguez's lifeless body down 200 feet to the bottom of the channel. Two other orcas took the seal, ripping it in half. Blood sprayed over the water and ice. The killing spree was over in less than ten seconds.

Except for seal blood on the ice and one of Rodríguez's gloves floating on the water, there were no signs of what had just happened. The orca pod disappeared into the ocean's depths. The only sounds were from sea water and small pieces of ice lapping against the side of the launch.