Orcas Hunting Dolphins Caught on Video

Petr Svab
4/21/2016
Updated:
10/5/2018

Spotting a killer whale in the Monterey Bay south of San Jose may not be that rare of a sight. But spotting a pack of them ambushing a pod of dolphins and catching the whole thing on camera---that’s something special.

At least it was for Michael Sack, captain and co-owner of Sanctuary Cruises, who offers wildlife tours on the bay.

On April 14 he was whale watching five miles south of Moss Landing Harbor when he recognized six to eight orcas surrounding him.

Being a waterman for over 30 years, he knew what was about to happen and, according to his commentary in the video, was duly exited about it.

The whales were waiting to ambush a sizable pod of common dolphins coming their way.

Just as Sack predicted, the orcas attacked and the dolphins started to swim for their lives, jumping through the water en masse right by his boat.

“This is pretty epic encounter I just had,” he said.

Later on in the video, we see the orcas are able to hunt down at least one of the dolphins.