Dogs maul one stranded seal; another is rescued and taken to safety
An urgent call has again been made for dog owners to keep their animals on leashes on the beach. This comes after a seal succumbed to its injuries last Friday after it was attacked by dogs on East Beach. A second seal found stranded there was rescued by a Ndlambe Municipality official, is well on its way to recovery and could be swimming home soon.
A Facebook post by Stephen Forder recorded the events of Friday August 16:
“An exhausted subantarctic fur seal washed up on East Beach in Port Alfred this afternoon. It was likely that extremely heavy winds and the resultant swell earlier in the week had swept the seal off course. The species breeds on some of the islands further south towards the Antarctic, such as Marion, Prince Edward and Gough islands.
“[Animal Control Officer] Anel Slabbert from Ndlambe Municipality netted the young seal, and we managed to get it into a specialised crate.
The seal will spend Friday night in Port Alfred and Anel will travel half way to Gqeberha on Saturday morning to hand it over to a specialist from Bayworld where it will be rehabilitated.
“Sadly, in an incident earlier in the day on Friday, a young Cape fur seal that had suffered a similar fate to that of the subantarctic seal was mauled by dogs on the same beach where it succumbed to its injuries.”
Talk of the Town this week spoke to Dr Greg Hofmeyr, Curator: Marine Mammals at Bayworld. Along with an update on the surviving seal’s condition, we asked whether it was unusual to find two seals stranded on one day; whether there was a concern that their apparent lack of fear could mean they had rabies; and what the public can do to protect stranded seals.
Hofmeyr confirmed that two seals had been retrieved from East Beach last Friday.
“A Cape fur seal; that had beached was so badly injured by dogs that attacked it, that it had no chance of survival,” Hofmeyr said.
A necropsy (the animal version of an autopsy) on the animkal had revealed severe damage to its lower and mid-back.
“The puncture wounds from the dogs’ teeth were so deep, they went right through the skin and into the muscle which had serious tears,” Hofmeyr said.
A brain sample was sent for testing for rabies. The result wasn’t available at the time of the interview.
How likely was it that a seal remaining on the beach in the presence of people meant there was something wrong with it?
“We do get seals coming ashore from time to time,” Hofmeyr said. Cape fur seals strand mostly in spring and especially in summer. In summer, especially in December, Cape seal pups often wash ashore. Vagrant seals, such as Subantarctics, come ashore in the winter. It’s more unusual to find stranded seals in winter: usually it’s older males, or a seal that has something wrong with it.”
But not necessarily.
“Subantarctic fur seals will not be afraid of people: they come from Marion Island and people are not part of their history.
“It’s most likely that the seal that was killed by dogs had come ashore to rest.”
However, the fact that rabies was recently identified as endemic in Cape seal populations in the Western Cape meant it was important to be cautious.
“In response to that situation, we have held meetings with local municipalities to plan the way forward if a rabid seal does land on the shore. We have met with Ndlambe Municpality and the State Veterinarian to discuss protocols that we are putting in place. The public will be informed of these,” Hofmeyr said.
Keep your dog on a leash – for the seals’ sake as well as the dog’s, Hofmeyr said.
“You shouldn’t approach seals or other marine wildlife, no matter how tame they seem.”
If you find a seal, dead or alive, on the beach, call Bayworld’s stranding hotline: 071-724-2122.
And the seal that survived?
“It’s doing very well,” Hofmeyr said. “It was very weak and underweight and we’re feeding it up before we take it offshore to release it, in the hope it swims south, back home.”
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 22, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
