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Yachting season is currently ramping up in Europe, and the orcas who’ve spent the past few years wreaking havoc on boats on the water in the vicinity of the Strait of Gibraltar didn’t waste any time making their mark yet again after sending a 49-foot vessel to a watery grave.
Humans don’t typically have to worry about drawing the attention of orcas, but there is a very notable exception in the form of the killer whales that started targeting boats near the Iberian Penninsula in 2020—a pattern of behavior some experts believe is linked to an animal that was injured in a collision and subsequently taught other members of its species how to attack their inanimate enemies in a quest for revenge.
Over the past four years, there have been hundreds of reports concerning packs of orcas that have exhibited aggressive behavior while interacting with boats. Approximately 250 of those incidents resulted in some sort of physical damage ((thankfully, no humans have been seriously harmed), and as of the end of 2023, the whales (which are actually scientifically classified as dolphins) had managed to sink four of the vessels they attacked.
According to Reuters, that number has now risen to five thanks to what unfolded in the Strait of Gibraltar in the waters off of the coast of Morocco on Monday.
The outlet reports the Alboran Cognac, a 49-foot yacht with two people aboard, was attacked by orcas who targeted the rudder and battered the hull to the point where it began to take on water, and they were forced to abandon the boat before seeking refugee aboard an oiler tanker that was able to rescue them before the vessel they fled sank.
Some boaters in the region have attempted to harness heavy metal music in the hopes of dissuading the approximately 15 orcas that are believed to be responsible for the reign of terror that shows no signs of coming to an end at any point in the near future, but as things currently stand, it seems like the orcas have the upper hand.