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	  Snip....
>   > Orcas are summer transients here, they first started coming inshore 
	  > about 5 years ago, mainly around Sumburgh head, where the big
seal 
	  > colonies are, but they are becoming more common, so we'll
probably 
	  > encounter them more often over the coming summers


	I checked with the orca researcher 'down the hall'. He isn't aware
of any "attack" other than the one thirty or so years ago, where an orca
feeding in a California sea lion rookery grabbed a surfer, pulled him under,
then spit him out when the orca got a taste of neoprene. Everything else has
turned out to be shark attacks, once the tooth pattern has been analyzed.

	I pull my crews out of the water when killer whales are around.
(This has annoyed the hell out of my divers who want to make their mark in
history.) The more I get to know orcas, the more they seem to have not only
the intelligence, but also the personality of a cat, including an enjoyment
of playing with their food.

	Graeme's book is called "Transients: Mammal-Hunting Killer Whales"
by Ford and Ellis, published by UBC Press and has some really neat
descriptions of orca hunting behaviour. Don't take it down to read on a long
deco, though. ;)  

>  
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