Like a cat playing with a mouse, a small bird or a ball of string, even if they don't eat it, playing with them seems to be instinctual to keep their hunting skills sharp. Wish we had more transient seal eating Orca around to help keep the historical high Seal and Sea Lion populations in check.
My guess is orcas are smart enough to know the sea lions do have the ability to bite back. If you "***** slap" dinner into dizziness or subconsciousness first (as SpringVelocity mentioned)- your dinner is much less likely to fight back when you try to take a bite out of it. I have seen older orcas teaching younger ones how to "***** slap" their dinner into submission before.
It's this method used by orcas in Argentina that makes walk the beaches with one eye towards the water.
[DWsN63PRCW8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWsN63PRCW8
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