The SPCA is investigating the death of a juvenile Cape fur seal found on Muizenberg Beach on Thursday morning with suspected stab wounds.
The Hout Bay Seal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre was alerted at 9am to a seal in distress at the beach, according to its operations director, Kim Krynauw.
“I received a message that a young seal had come up onto the beach and might have rabies. One of our rescuers left immediately from Fish Hoek to attend to the rescue, but by the time we arrived, the seal was already dead. Through closer inspection, our rescuer noticed that the seal might have been speared (stabbed) and it looked like it had a head injury.
“The animal had come out of the water obviously totally distressed and in pain and succumbed to its injuries. I alerted the SPCA Wildlife Unit, the City of Cape Town and Law Enforcement. The SPCA have taken the seal for further investigations.”
Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham confirmed they were investigating along with the City and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
“It’s unfortunately too early to comment on the cause of death until a post-mortem has been carried out,” she said.
Earlier this year, the Hout Bay Seal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre said it had seen an alarming increase in injured Cape fur seals (“Spike in number of injured seals, says support group,“ Sentinel, July 5).
At that time Ms Krynauw said: “We are seeing a lot of seals with broken lower jaws and also had a seal who had its face slashed off with a panga. We also find a lot of seals with fishing gut around their necks.
“These animals are killed daily, whether they are shot, stabbed or suffer panga injuries. They also experience starvation. It’s just horrific.”
She believes the dead seal at Muizenberg was attacked.
“We’ve seen this pattern too many times. We appeal to people to stay away from seals and call us so that we rescue and then assess them to confirm if they have rabies,” she said.
The DFFE and the Two Oceans Aquarium did not respond to requests for comment by time of publication.
The City referred queries to the SPCA.
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is appealing for anyone with any information about the incident to contact them at 021 700 4158/9 or email inspectorate@spca-ct.co.za.