‘You gotta go!’: Woman eggs sea lion to get off boat with killer whales circling, sparks debate

Video of a woman egging a sea lion to get off the boat to certain death has sparked a fierce debate. A sea lion had hopped onto the boat but within moments, the owner of the boat realized why, as orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, circulated the boat in a menacing fashion, reported DailyDot. The woman was understandably worried as she tried to egg the sea lion off the boat. The video was first posted on TikTok by @nutabull. Following heavy criticism for trying to get the sea lion off the boat, she deleted the video. The video resurfaced on Twitter. The woman posted the video and captioned the video: "An orca looks right at me, 'Where's my lunch b*tch, give it up now.'"

The incident happened on Vancouver Island, near Canada’s Pacific coast. The woman was stunned to suddenly see a sea lion on her boat. “What the f*ck, no, no, no, no,” the woman can be heard saying as she looks at the creature on her boat. “Did you see what just came up on my boat?” The sea lion has no intention to move and stays put. She realizes why in a couple of moments as she sees a killer whale on one side of the boat. She lets out a large gasp, fear creeping into her voice. She then hears a gust of air and water being shoot into the air from the other side of the water. As she walks over, she sees another orca. Within seconds, she takes a walk around the boat and realizes that there are at least 3-4 orcas surrounding her boat, waiting for the sea lion to get off the boat.

You can feel the dread creeping into her voice as orcas circle her boat. All it needed was the ominous Jaws background music and the scene could have been out of a movie. She repeatedly tells herself, "Oh my God, I don't know what to do," before turning to the animal and telling, “You gotta go!” It was apparent that she knew getting off the boat meant certain death for the sea lion. Many criticized the woman for not doing enough to save the sea lion. 

She could potentially have been fearful for her own life, as anyone who has studied orcas will tell you. A school of orcas is completely capable of tipping over a boat and often work in tandem to get their prey. Orcas are often tamed for entertainment purposes and are viewed as friendly creatures by many but there couldn't be anything more further from the truth. They are apex predators and a school of orcas can be incredibly organized when it comes to getting their prey. A BBC documentary highlighted incredibly intelligent behavior from orcas when they were seen creating waves to deplatform a seal seeking refuge on an ice block. The school or orcas create waves after waves eventually causing the seal to fall off the ice block before being caught by the orcas.

Some ased why the woman why didn't turn on her boat and speed to safety but for those unaware, it can be illegal to turn on engines in certain waters, especially around protected species. The propellers could species such as orcas. Ina  second video posted by the TikToker,  the seal can be seen still sitting on the edge of her boat. Many empathized with the woman because she was equally scared for her own life. The video also raised ethical questions as to whether the woman had the rights to interfere in the wild, denying the whales a meal they could have potentially otherwise caught. Orcas also got to eat to survive and that's just how nature works. 

Kenyon, who posted the video on Twitter said, "The sea lion eventually went into the water welp." The seas lion did try to get on the boat one more time before falling off. There's no more to the video but one can guess the survival chances of a sea lion circled by a school of orcas. Kenyon then added the woman onboard had little choice. "They literally don’t rest until they get their food like ain’t no telling what they would’ve done to her boat. I don’t know what I would’ve done," they wrote.