T65A5 Indy has been busy "doing Indy things"

Since at least July 22nd, T65A5 Indy has been traversing the Salish Sea on his own and has been busy "doing Indy things", according to many of those who have been lucky enough to see him!

What are Indy things, you may ask? He's been observed harassing humpbacks, eating seals, swimming in the shallows, breaching and tail slapping, and - you guessed it - playing with crab pots. Yesterday he was in Cayou and Upright Channels in the San Juan Islands and spent nearly six hours going from crab pot to crab pot pulling buoys underwater and dragging pots around. Our intern Kelsey was out with San Juan Excursions and captured this photo of him in Wasp Passage.

Perhaps like the Strait of Gibraltar orcas playing with rudders on sailing vessels, West Coast Transients seem to enjoy engaging with crab pots as something novel to interact with in their environment. We've personally documented this behavior from about a dozen individuals in the Salish Sea, interestingly all juvenile and adult males. This behavior carries a risk of entanglement, but when possible entanglement has been reported, the whales have either moved on before responders get there or have "self-released" - essentially disentangled themselves from the gear without human interference. There haven't been any known fatalities from this behavior in Salish Sea waters.

Indy's timing is impeccable, since he is of course our feature whale for our 2024 fundraiser. You can share the story of his unpredictable antics and support our work at the same time with these limited edition shirts and hats (available for another week!)