Orca attacks

[5] There are anecdotal reports that, c. 1955, an Inuk man fell prey to an orca entrapped by ice in Grand Suttie Bay (Foxe Basin, Canada).

A pod of orcas (likely 10-12 animals) was trapped in a polynya, and a young man visited the site in spite of advice from elders to wait until the ice was strong enough.

Two Inuit elders stated to a research team that one of the animals chased the young man, broke the ice under him, then killed and ate him.

As the ice thickened, two to three whales were taken by Inuit hunters, and three more were harpooned but tore the lines (made of seal skin).

In 1958, an orca attacked the fishing boat Tiger Shark after being struck with a harpoon off the coast of Long Island.

[6] In September 1962 in Washington waters off the west side of San Juan Island, Marineland of the Pacific collector Frank Brocato lassoed a female salmon-eating southern resident orca.

[8] On June 15, 1972, the hull of the 13-metre-long (43 ft) wooden schooner Lucette was damaged by a pod of orcas and sank approximately 320 kilometres (200 mi) west of the Galapagos Islands.

[15][16] On March 9, 1976, the Italian racing yacht Guia III was rammed and sunk by an orca off the coast of Brazil.

[17] In August 2005, while swimming in four feet of water in Helm Bay, near Ketchikan, Alaska, a 12-year-old boy named Ellis Miller was bumped in the shoulder by a 7.6-metre (25 ft) transient orca.

[21][22] On February 10, 2014, a free diver in Horahora Estuary near Whangārei, New Zealand, was pulled down for over 40 seconds by an orca that grabbed a bag containing crayfish and urchins which was attached to his arm by a rope.

[24][25][23] From 2020 to 2024, there were at least five hundred reports of orcas interacting with boats off the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal, an unusual and unprecedented behaviour.