Toñi is around 60 years old and is known among researchers as the "grandmother" of the population of orcas that moves between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Gulf of Cadiz. This week she has appeared with as many as ten marks on her dorsal fin and back which, according to the organisations that monitor her, were not there in photographs taken weeks earlier.
It was the conservation group WeWhale that sounded the alarm, after comparing the animal’s current condition with its previous photographic record. Janek Andre, founder of WeWhale and Iberian Orca Guardians, explained that the injuries now seen on the fin and back are, in his view, consistent with the impact of a shotgun blast.
The Atlantic Orca Working Group has gone further in its technical analysis. According to this collective, the injuries could correspond to lead pellets of around 9 millimetres, similar to those used in buckshot cartridges for wild boar. It points out that this type of ammunition usually fires nine projectiles in three rows of three, a pattern they consider consistent with the arrangement of the marks found on the animal.
Investigation under way
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge learned of the case on the afternoon of 11 August, through information sent by WeWhale (source in Spanish), an organisation that operates in the area with administrative authorisation. The following day, the Directorate General for Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification opened preliminary proceedings to clarify the facts and, where appropriate, initiate sanctioning proceedings against those responsible.
