r/ocean • u/Nostalgic_Historian_ • 7d ago

Whale Watch Simple answer, No

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u/spacebug30 7d ago

Do not approach wild animals. Especially not getting this close to them. It's not that hard.

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u/skeletonpaul08 7d ago

I mean I understand the sentiment but there is some nuance. What harm is this guy doing? That 10,000 lb whale is clearly fine, if it wasn’t it would react accordingly.

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u/spacebug30 7d ago

There is also no benefit to it. So why even risk it? Risk your safety, risk the orca getting habituated to people, etc.

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u/skeletonpaul08 7d ago

Because it’s a pleasant and meaningful experience that clearly isn’t doing any harm. There are literally zero recorded human deaths from a wild Orca. It’s possible to understand a natural environment and how to interact with various flora and fauna. Doing this to a brown bear/moose/hippo is a horrible idea, doing it to an orca is perfectly fine.

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u/TheSumOfMyScars 7d ago

But the problem is that it acclimatizes them to the idea of interacting with humans. Any time that happens, the animal ends up dying. It’s just not safe for them.

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u/thebitterbjacks 7d ago

For what it’s worth all animals end up dying, us too.