orca tagged posts

Two killer whales were spotted by fishermen trawler off the coast of Dublin on Saturday, the second sighting in as many weeks in the area. The fishermen captured a video of two killer whales 8kms east of Rockabill, which is off the Dublin coast near Skerries, north Co Dublin.

Two weeks ago, another fishermen on another vessel, spotted a killer whale in the same area, according to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG).

Padraig Whooley, sighting officer with the IWDG, said the group had validated both recent sightings.

The IWDG was made aware of the video, posted on Facebook by one of the fishermen on the trawler, on Sunday afternoon. “The video footage is great,” Mr Whooley said.

The said the group might validate a dozen confirmed sightings of killer whales in “a good year,” Mr Whoo...

A killer whale has stopped carrying her dead newborn calf after at least 17 days, during which she covered 1,000 miles (1,600km), scientists say. The whale “vigorously chased a school of salmon with her pod-mates in Haro Strait” off Canada’s Vancouver Island, the Center for Whale Research said.

“Her tour of grief is now over and her behaviour is remarkably frisky.”

Killer whales have been known to carry dead calves for a week, but scientists believe this mother “sets a record”.

The mother whale – known as J35 – has captivated the world’s attention in the past few days.

“Telephoto digital images taken from shore show that this mother whale appears to be in good physical condition,” CWR said in a statement on Saturday.

“The carcass has probably sunk to the bottom of these inland marine wate...

The Center for Whale Research (CWR) declared the whale, officially known as L92, “missing and presumed dead” on Friday. L92 had not been seen since November 2017 and was “conspicuously absent” from 2018 sightings. He was 23 years old.

With L92s death, the number of southern resident orca whales, who travel between waters in Washington State and southwestern British Columbia, fell to 75, the lowest it has been since 1984. Orca whales were listed as an endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 2005.

Despite a baby boom, the southern orca population has fallen by eight since 2016, The Canadian Press reported.

Deaths are being blamed on a decline in Chinook salmon, the whale’s main prey, as well as noise and boat traffic, The Seattle Times reported.

Conservationists are conce...

Europe’s killer whales wowed in the BBC’s Blue Planet II series but these animals face extinction. It was one of those television moments. The sight of killer whales herding shoals of herring into tighter and tighter balls to trap the prey near the surface of the water. The killer whales work as a pack of skilful hunters before deploying their secret weapon – tail-slapping the fish so hard they are either dazed or die. The story behind those shots is even more remarkable.

They were filmed in the majestic Norwegian fjords. These long, narrow inlets are now among the few places in Europe you can see a pod of killer whales.

Across Europe, these cetaceans are declining rapidly.

In the Mediterranean and the North Sea, they have vanished.

Elsewhere, there are now only eight killer whales in th...

SeaWorld plans to phase out its famous Shamu show at its San Diego park next year after mounting criticism over its treatment of killer whales. The entertainment parks have faced a huge backlash from animal rights groups who have protested against the conditions orcas are kept in. Visitor numbers have also plummeted since release of the 2013 documentary Blackfish which claimed SeaWorld’s treatment of its captive orcas provoked violent behaviour in the whales, leading to the deaths of three people.

The company, which operates 11 theme parks across the U.S., also reported a profit of $5.8million for April to the end of June – 7 cents per share – which was down from $37.4million for the same period last year...