A frightening phenomenon has been gripping the shores of the West Coast. Both seals, young and old, find themselves starving to death. Thousands of dead seals have washed up on the beaches of Shelly Beach, Elands Bay and Lamberts Bay, and those numbers were just for the tail end of October. While new numbers and data have not yet been released, beachgoers continue to find dead seals sprawled across the white sands of beaches such as Big Bay and Melkbosstrand.
Sea Search released a heartbreaking Facebook post of a young seal fighting to stay alive as it convulsed between Muizenberg and St James, while another very thin youngling was spotted at the St James pool.
Tess Gridley, the founding director of this crucial organisation, sought to give an update on the mortality event in the Western Cape. However, the tale was much more jarring than a simple numbers update.
“Members of the public passed on by, thinking the seal was asleep, thinking it might bite their dogs – but no, this was one of hundreds of animals which have died over the weekend. I left the animal, and found the second skinny youngster at St James – weak and emaciated. Leaving it to rest I spoke to passing members of the public asking them to report seals along the coastline if they see them, so we can collate data on the current die off.”
Gridley explained that as she was collecting data she received a phone call regarding an adult female who was convulsing at Witsand (Kommetjie), who had been spotted by a concerned fisherman. Another was spotted at Melkbosstrand and was put to sleep by the SPCA – “the body not available for science and therefore lost without valuable information collected,” she continued.
“This is a taster of the past 72 hrs… there’s much more to write to this story.”
There is so much that researchers do not understand about the seal die-off. Gridley explains that more pathology testing needs to be done, but this is pricey.
“We need to travel north to see what’s happening there and we need more time to collate all the records sent to us by valuable and concerned members of the public – the true citizen scientists,” she states.
This research is important, and the government has no budget to support this. If you’re a concerned member of the public and would like to lend a helping hand, head to their website: www.seasearch.co.za/support
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Thousands of Cape Fur Seals wash up dead along the West Coast
Picture: Sea Search Facebook