Two boatloads of tourists out for an encounter with whales and dolphins got a ringside view of an orca killer whale attack on dusky dolphins off the Kaikoura coast.
One dolphin was killed in the incident.
Whale Watch boat skipper Dean Kennedy said the attack happened 4km off South Bay.
While on
a trip to view whales last Friday, Mr Kennedy and some tourists saw five female orca and a juvenile hunting among about 2000 dusky dolphins.
Mr Kennedy was watching the orca chasing a smaller group of dolphins when one of the killer whales went underneath the boat and then leapt out of the water with a dolphin in its mouth.
The incident was videotaped by one of the tourists. Most people on board realised it was just nature at work, Mr Kennedy said.
The dolphin killed in the attack was handed over to the juvenile orca and the older females went off hunting again, he said. Once the orca finished hunting, they returned and took away the dolphin carcass and ate it.
He said orca passed by the Kaikoura coast about once a month.
- NZPA
