This deer was lucky he didn't become orca chow!
Deer and killer whales. There are two animals you probably never thought would be found in the same place at the same time. However, that is just what whale watchers on a tour boat witnessed in Victoria, British Columbia.
Around the same time the boat captain and passengers sighted the deer, they noticed a pod of killer whales was also roaming the area.
The boat's captain used the guide boat to guide the wayward buck away from the large marine mammals and back towards the shoreline where it would be safe. The whole thing was documented on video, which you can see below.
As strange as it seems, it isn't unheard of for an orca whale to kill and eat a deer or other land mammal that made the mistake of swimming where orcas are congregating. Killer whales are already proficient killers of other mammals like seals and even dolphins. If they're hungry and opportunity presents itself, we imagine venison may have been on the menu for the day.
Some may mistakenly think that killer whales are a threat to humans if they're willing to go after other land animals, but that isn't the case at all. In fact, the have only been a handful of attacks recorded on humans. In many of these instances, the whales were defending their young. One attack in 2014 involved an orca that grabbed a diver's bag of tasty sea critters that he had collected.
Other than that, most attacks have been from captive animals that were probably fed up with their keepers. It seems this is one species that wasn't meant for a cage.
We're not sure we agree with the whale watching boat interfering with nature in this case, but what is done is done at this point. Chalk it up as that buck's lucky day!
