Orcas live in stable multi-generational matrilineal pods with complex social bonds. Disruption through hunting, captivity, or environmental change causes profound welfare harm.
Orca social welfare is inseparable from pod integrity. The profound social bonds of orca society - manifest in males dying after maternal loss - demonstrate that these are animals with attachment relationships of extraordinary depth. Threats to individual welfare cannot be disentangled from threats to pod social structure. Protecting orcas means protecting both individual and social welfare.