A viral TikTok shows a ship captain trying to kick a sea lion off her boat after orcas quickly surrounded it. A furious debate arose with some criticizing the woman for trying to coax the seal into a sure death.
The video was first posted to TikTok by @nutabull, but was taken down. It has found new life and a fervent audience on Twitter through @keyon and others.
The footage details a panicked woman seeing a sea lion on her boat. TikToker @nutabull’s page shows her to be located out of Vancouver Island, near Canada’s Pacific coast.
“What the fuck, no, no, no, no,” the woman says. “Did you see what just came up on my boat?”
She tells the animal, “You gotta go!” However, she seems also to understand what those consequences would be—certain death for the sea lion by a small school of orcas. Some viewers thought she should have done more to save the sea lion.
Orcas are seen as friendly by humans, which comes from our taming of them for entertainment purposes. However, they are known apex predators. They will work together, even tipping boats to get to their desired meals.
“Oh my God, I don’t know what to do,” the original poster says in the video.
Some asked why the woman simply didn’t turn on her boat and speed to safety. In some coves and harbors, especially those known to have certain species, it can be illegal to turn on engines because it could hurt, for example, orcas.
A second video shows orcas swimming around with the sea lion very content on sitting on the edge of the woman’s boat in safety.
“I really love how the sea lion is like ‘no, you’ll get it in a minute, but I’m *not* moving,'” tweeted @samthielman.
The comments on the videos were hilarious, with most folks sympathizing with the woman’s decision.
One commenter tweeted: “She said, “you can’t be on here,” and the sea lion was like, “b*tch are you f*cking BLIND?!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @nutabull for comment.
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