Whale experts discover orca they know as Comet
is same killer whale that swam into Northern Irish city nearly 40 years ago
Press Association
Friday 1 April
2016 18.55 BSTLast modified on Friday 1 April 201619.31 BST
A killer whale that sparked widespread
attention when it swam into a Northern Irish city almost 40 years ago is still
alive and living off the west coast of Scotland, experts have
found.
The whale was nicknamed Dopey Dick by
locals after he made his way up the river Foyle into the heart of Derry in pursuit of salmon in 1977. He is now thought to
be at least 58 and was identified when pictures of the Irish incident were
compared with images taken of a pod of whales near the Isle
of Skye in September 2014.
Known as Comet, the orca is part of the
vulnerable west coast community whales – the UK
Andy Foote, a killer whale expert, said:
“When I saw the photos on Facebook, I noticed that the white eye patch of Dopey
Dick sloped backwards in a really distinctive fashion.
“This is a trait we see in all the west
coast community whales, but it’s not that common in other killer whale
populations. The photographs were all quite grainy, but it was still possible
to see some of the distinctive features unique to Comet.
“I couldn’t believe it – he was already a
full-grown male back in 1977, when I was just five years old.”
The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust has been
documenting the west coast community’s behaviour since 1994.
The four males and four females are not
known to interact with other orca populations in the north-east Atlantic and, since studies began, have never
successfully reproduced.
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