A wildlife photographer on a whale-watching trip in the waters off Seattle captured dramatic video and photos of killer whales hunting a seal that survived only by climbing onto the stern of its boat.
Charvet Drucker was on a rented 20-foot boat near his home on an island in the Salish Sea about 40 miles northwest of Seattle when he spotted a pod of at least eight killer whales, also known as orcas.
The orcas’ coordinated movements and tail flapping made it clear that they were hunting. Drucker used his camera’s zoom lens to spot a harbor seal trying to escape from its pod. One of her shots showed a seal flying through the air above a plume of orcas foaming in the water, and she thought she was seeing the seal’s last moments of life.
In this photo by Charvet Drucker, a seal leaps into the air to avoid an Orca whale, Sunday, 2025. Nov. 2, in Saratoga Passage between Caman and Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Wash. / Credit: Charvet Drucker / AP
But as the orcas approached the boat, Drucker and her group realized that the pod was still chasing the seal. In compliance with wildlife boating regulations, they turned off the engine to avoid injuring the whales. The seal climbed out of the water and onto the swim platform at the stern of the boat near the engine, calling it a sort of life raft.
Wildlife rules also prohibit touching or disturbing the seal, but Drucker began filming the video.
“You poor thing,” Drucker is heard saying as the seal looks at her. “You’re good, just stay, buddy.”
The orcas didn’t give up right away, but instead seemed to band together to shake the boat and make the seal fall. Drucker’s cellphone video shows the orcas lining up and moving toward the boat, creating waves. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the “wave wash” technique has been documented by scientists since at least the 1980s.
The seal in Drucker’s boat slipped at least once, but managed to get back on, and the orcas swam away after about 15 minutes.
“When the orcas came out, we started the boat and slowly approached the shore with the seal on board to get it to a safer place. When we got close to the shore, the seal decided it felt safe enough to leave the boat and jumped out of its own accord,” Drucker told KOMO-TV.
In this photo provided by Charvet Drucker, a seal lies on her boat in Saratoga Passage between Caman and Whidbey Island, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2025. Nov. 2, north of Seattle, Wash. / Credit: Charvet Drucker / AP
Drucker has previously photographed dead seals in orcas’ mouths and says he’s usually happy when the whales eat.
“I’m definitely Team Orca all day, every day. But when this seal was on board, I kind of turned (into) Team Seal,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.
The killer whales that hunt seals and other marine life in the area are known as Bigg’s or “short-lived” orcas. According to NOAA, they are better fed than other more specialized species, such as salmon “resident” orcas, which are on the endangered species list.
Seals are often hunted by killer whales, but apex predators have a variety of prey.
Orcas in the Gulf of California off the coast of Mexico have been recently caught on video hunts young great white sharks, flipping them over to incapacitate them before eating their livers.
In March, video captured a pod of orcas swimming near the coast in Seattle hunting a bird.
In 2016 video posted on YouTube. showed a small seal basking on the back deck of a ship as orcas swam off the coast of British Columbia.
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