Killer whale rams into yacht off Shetland in first UK orca attack

A killer whale rammed a yacht off the coast of Shetland in the first incident of killer whale attacks in British waters.

A 72-year-old Dutch retired physicist was on his way from Lerwick to Bergen, Norway, when the orca slammed into the stern of his boat.

Dr. Wim Rutten, an experienced sailor, was fishing for mackerel when the whale started to hit the ship.

It comes after reports of similar incidents between killer whales and boats in Gibraltar and Portugal.

‘What I felt [was] most frightening was the animal’s very loud breathing,’ said Dr Rutten, adding that he was concerned after hearing about the ‘Portuguese accidents’.

Dr. Rutten said the orca was behind the boat, “then it disappeared… but came back at great speed, two or three times… and circled a bit.”

The scientist told The protector he thought the animal might want to play, “Or look me in the eye.” Or to lose the fishing line.’

The behavior is similar to that of recent incidents in the Iberian Peninsula.

Experts suggested that animals wwho rammed and sank boats off the coast of Spain perhaps did this to avenge their matriarch after being beaten by fishermen.

According to reports, there have been hundreds of coordinated attacks on ships by orcas off the Iberian coast since 2020.

On June 11, a killer whale circled a luxury yacht before savagely wrenching its rudder free, sending the boat’s crew adrift off the coast of Gibraltar.

The vessel, a 48-foot catamaran, was attacked during a delivery trip, with footage showing the whale biting a part of the boat that is critical to steering.

The captain of the Bali 4.8, who has previously witnessed orca attacks in the area, said he noticed the “unusual movement of the boat” before seeing a pod of four or five orcas emerge.

Czech skipper Daniel Kriz, 61, said: ‘My first reaction was ‘Please! Not again’.’

And on June 5, Captain Iain Hamilton, 60, was left stranded in a harbor off Gibraltar for a few days after his boat, the Butey of the Clyde, sank with both rudders being carried away by a pod of five whales.

He said the orcas performed a “choreographed” attack on the boat, but he believes they “played with the rudder and inadvertently made the boat very vulnerable and put it in a very dangerous situation.”

The attacks are believed to have been prompted by a “critical moment of pain” experienced by group leader White Gladis, possibly resulting from a boat collision or entanglement in fishing line, scientists say.

The trauma Gladis suffered could have caused the whale to become more aggressive before its behavior was mimicked by other whales, marine biologist Alfredo Lopez Fernandez said.

“That traumatized orca is the one that caused this behavior of physical contact with the boat,” Fernandez said livescience.com.

“We don’t interpret that the orcas are teaching the cubs, although the behavior has spread vertically to the cubs simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they see it as something important in their lives,” he added.

In November, a pod of seven killer whales sank a sailing yacht in 45 minutes by punching a hole in the hull and swimming away with the rudder before the boat’s terrified crew fled on a life raft off the coast of Portugal.

Footage showed the orcas circling and bumping around the ship, named Smousse, while crew members Elliott, Augustin, Roman and Corentin were on board.

Augustin said that when they heard the boat vibrate and a loud noise at the back of the yacht, they realized they were surrounded by killer whales.

As the attack continued, the boat eventually began to crack due to the force of the killer whale’s jaws and the killer whales ripped a hole in the hull of the 40ft boat.