Yesterday, I was reading my news feed on Facebook and saw a video of a man on a beach being attacked and, sadly, eaten by orca, aka killer, whales.  My immediate comment was “OMG!”  However, then I got to thinking.  Is this real?

Over the years I have read conflicting reports as to whether or not killer whales will actually attack humans in the wild.  I emphasize the term wild since we know of the recent tragic death of a trainer at Sea World, and there is a controversy now about whether these beautiful giant creatures should really be confined to performing circus acts for people in confined aquaria.  What always haunts me is Herbert George Ponting’s description of orcas trying to tip him into the water, while he was photographing on an ice flow in the Antarctic.

The video in question was not amusing.  It purports to show a fellow human being’s untimely and terrible death.  The good news it is a fraud.  Cleverly created (falling under the current definition of Photoshopped, I guess), it is actually advertising footage for “La Sirena,” a retail chain in the Dominican Republic. La Sirena has an advertising character for it’s back to school promotion called “The Lucky Pencil,” and the footage ends with the words: “No todos los lapices dan suerte solo el lapiz la suerte de La Sirena” (Not all pencils give you luck, just the pencil “La Suerte” from la Sirena).