How human activities put Killer Whales in danger

NEW DELHI: Killer Whales, as they are called, are Orcas found in most of the world’s oceans. People associate the name with murderous instincts, partly thanks to American popular culture. The truth is they don’t kill humans in their natural habitat. Luckily, thanks to movies like Free Willy, perceptions about Orcas are shifting.

Science says there’s lots to love about Orcas. They are matriarchal, live in groups called pods and have their own private pod language. I learnt this at an exhibition in Canada’s Victoria at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

Ironically, humans are killing Orcas, now classified as ‘endangered’ in the US and ‘at-risk’ in Canada. Off the Pacific Coast of North America, Orcas are starving. A key part of their diet is the Chinook Salmon, likely in decline,

due to the climate crisis. Unlike other Orcas, the Pacific populations aren’t switching food. Sea vessels also disrupt the whales’ fishing, because their sounds interfere with the frequencies Orcas need for hunting.

This sliver of reality shows how our global consumption-with its supply chains-is undoing life on earth. It isn’t possible to shift to local economies entirely, but if labels tell us about the supply chain of a rayon shirt, or smart phone, or painkiller, we could better understand our links with species like Orcas. Too often, we don’t think of the impact of water-based transportation either. The vulnerability of this Orca population suggests global trade to feed our consumption desires is costlier than we imagined.