Killer whales damage boats in Spanish, Portuguese waters in puzzling new behavior

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A pod of killer whales repeatedly rammed a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar this week, damaging it enough to require Spanish rescuers to come to the aid of its four crew members. It was the latest episode in a perplexing trend in the behavior of orcas populating the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula that has left researchers searching for a cause. The first cases were reported three years ago and since then at least 480 interactions have occurred. There have been no reports of attacks on people in the water.