October 21, 2023...Four pods of Bigg’s killer whales (T36Bs & T36, T34s, T37s and T37As) took turns hunting a large male Steller sea lion in the Strait of Georgia north of Sucia Islands near the US/Canada border. It was a T-party of about fifteen orcas, maybe twenty orcas!
They were spread throughout the Strait of Georgia until a whale located a Steller sea lion in the middle of the strait. With no land in sight, this Stellar sea lion had nowhere to go as orca after orca came at it from all sides. The predator orcas were flying from the water as they worked to disorient and tire their prey. It was most amazing trip I've been on, watching the orcas work together as they hunted and blocked their prey from getting away. The power of each orca attacking in succession was absolutely amazing. At one point, the sea lion used one of the boats as cover from his predators, but the orcas didn't give up. As the boat drifted aimlessly in the rough seas, the orcas took advantage of the situation when the sea lion separated from the boat, giving them another chance to continue the hunt.
The hunt lasted over an hour, and the Steller sea lion appeared to have survived the terrorizing encounter. He eventually managed to swim almost 2-1/2 miles to a navigational marker for safety. While the Steller managed to get to the marker, it was too tired and/or injured to haul out on it. Our boat had to leave, but the last we saw, the Stellar sea lion appeared to have persisted and survived the attack.
NOTE: I put a warning on this video for viewer discretion. However, the video does NOT show blood or injuries but does show the orcas trying to take down and/or injure and confuse the seal lion.
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