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Orca Attack: Killer Whales Filmed Hunting Sea Lion Near Vancouver

By Dustin Wicksell
Published on: 11:46 PST, Mar 21, 2015

A group of orcas have been filmed attacking and devouring a sea lion in Vancouver, as a kayaker observed the whales near the Northern Gulf island.

The footage was captured by YouTube user Louis Jobidon, according to CBC News, while he was kayaking in February of this year. In the short clip, a pod of killer whales can be seen circling the limp body of a sea lion, the culmination of a hunting process that Jobidon claimed lasted nearly an hour. Near the end of the video, one of the orcas bursts from below the waves, dragging the unfortunate sea lion under the surface.

Orcas generally hunt together, according to Digital Journal, and are known to share their prey after incapacitating it. Aside from sea lions, the whales have also been documented preying upon larger and more formidable animals. Earlier this year, a pod of killer whales were observed in Australia as they surrounded and attacked a great white shark, teaching their young how to hunt the oceanic predator. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the shark’s death led the exodus of its fellow great whites from the region.

According to Vancitybuzz, Jobidon was able to record more footage of the orcas earlier this week. The clips depict the whales swimming in the area around Hornby Island’s Norris Rocks, a region where hundreds of sea lions had congregated. As the whales approached, the sea lions could be seen making a mad dash for safety, exiting the water as fast as possible.

The orca videos hardly represent the first time that the predators have been captured on film in the region. There are three pods that call the area around British Columbia and Washington state home, and over the past several years, the whales have been documented numerous times while hunting. Though the orcas continue to face challenges from a lack of salmon in the region, an issue believed to have caused the starvation of some pod members, at least two calves have been spotted over the last few months.

While a video filmed last year also depicted the orcas preying upon sea lions, another that emerged in 2014 showed a separate pod of killer whales toying with, and eventually devouring, a tiger shark.

[Image: Louis Jobidon via Twitter/ CBC British Columbia]

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