Napier’s shallow water killer whale: ‘Fin shaking is him tearing prey’

A local received the birthday gift of a lifetime after seeing a pod of killer whales just yards from Hawke’s Bay beach.

With as many as five believed to be in the group, the animals traveled north along the west coast of Napier Monday morning.

Ben Simmons saw the animals “wandering in stride” about 10 meters from shore, with an orca five meters from the beach.

The astonished local said the capsule appeared in front of Hot Chick & Cool Cat on Hardinge Rd, Ahuriri, towards the end of The Esplanade in Westshore, before disappearing into the sea.

“They seemed to periodically chase something down to the sand, running aground before returning to the deeper water,” he said. “It was a really incredible sight.

“It wasn’t scary, they were just majestic. However, my chihuahua Eli was trying to go swimming and I felt like it wasn’t a great idea.

“Today is my birthday so it was the best present ever,” added Simmons.

Orca Research Trust founder Dr. Ingrid Visser said the group was likely hunting prey, with the predominant orca in Simmon’s video being an adult male.

“It is quite common for orcas to enter the surf zone directly, sometimes even surfing alongside surfers, while hunting stingrays and sometimes small sharks,” he said.

“The male definitely has something already – the flipper you see is tearing apart the prey.”

“There is no danger to the public; the biggest risk is actually to the animals themselves and making sure they don’t get stuck,” he added.

The most recent sightings come just over two weeks after a group of recreational fishermen saved an exhausted young killer whale off the coast of Waipatiki after it became entangled in a cray pot line.

Visser said it is not yet clear if Monday’s sighting is related to the previous group of killer whales.

“We are trying to find more photos and videos to see if it was the animal that became entangled recently,” he said.

“We have not had any sightings of that one since then so we are very interested in gathering any information on this group just in case.”

Visser is looking for photos or videos of orcas from Monday or recently to help monitor the group. Sightings can be reported to 0800 SEE ORCA.