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A whale of a chase

Elliot Funt grew up boating on Howe Sound, but what he witnessed Tuesday was like nothing he's seen before.

He captured an incredible encounter on camera as killer whales chased a sea lion around his boat.

Funt said his group noticed whales in the distance and watched them for about 30 minutes. A short time later, a sea lion tried to climb on the boat beside him.

“They were pretty far away, and then all of a sudden they were right on top of us,” he said. “A sea lion seemed to swim over to one of the other boats and climbed on the side, and then the orcas followed and surprised us."

The whales can be seen splashing and circling very close to the boats as they chase the sea lion.

“I was just in awe, they were so big, they were so close and there wasn’t much we could do,” said Funt. “We were kind of just stuck there in the middle of them all.”

The sea lion managed to cling to the back of a boat that slowly moved to the shore, and it swam off when the whales lost interest.

“I have been boating my whole life in this area and I have never seen anything like this,” he said. “We were all pretty much right in and on top of everything.”

Funt worries about the future of such natural encounters.

He asks those who enjoy the video to consider signing a petition to stop the Woodfibre LNG project.

The petition says the project could harm marine and terrestrial ecosystems and poses unacceptable health and safety risks for Howe Sound.



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