> Kent, a Canadian Game & Fisheries warden, tells the story of one hapless grizzly attempting to swim a channel. The distance was, perhaps, less than a mile. Mr. Bear was beavering away at the swim. Up the channel, the dorsal fins of a small pod of orcas sliced the water--two bulls, some females, and get. The whales spotted the bear first. The moms and pups held back, while the bulls circled in. The bear weighed his options. First he looked to the farshore and then he looked to the backshore. He rubbernecked back and forth. Realizing both were too far, he tried to paddle straight up like a missile coming out of a nuclear sub. The whales did not circle (after all, they're not sharks) and did not sprint. They simply swam for the grizzly. In seconds, Mr. Bear turned into a red oil slick.

Robert H. Miller, Kayaking the Inside Passage.