I certainly doubt it. They would probably just be protecting themselves and their own kind.
If a humpback whale have experiences of killing whales attacking them or their offspring probably thought it was a good idea to do as possible to interfere with them. Probably would carry a genocide on orcas giving the chance.
I don't think it is out of mercy. Mercy is something that is learning growing in a better environment that any animal growing in the brutal natural world.
Open source means open source, I never assume anything else from open source projects.