Cape fur seals are under attack
The City of Cape Town, says while these incidents raised concern they’re not common. It also urges people to keep their distance from seals
The Cape Fur Seal has come under threat in recent months as in just the first half of the year, almost ten seals have been killed in the beaches of Cape Town.
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CITY OF CAPE TOWN CONDEMS BRUTAL KILLINGS
This week City law enforcement officers attached to the Marine and Environmental Unit, caught a man red handed while he was butchering a seal on the beach in Strandfontein.
The officers had received a tip-off, after witness saw him mutilating the animal. Upon his arrest, the man revealed to officers that there is a thriving black market for seal meat.
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According to law enforcement Wayne Dyson, the man was arrested and charged under the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) for being in possession of an animal on the Threatened or Protected Species list.
SEALS ARE NOW VICTIMS OF MUTHI KILLINGS
In June, six seals washed up on Kommetjie Beach on World Oceans Day, with wildlife forensics identified as stab wounds. A post mortem of the seals at the Cape of Good Hope SPCA that the seals drowned as a result of trauma sustained from the attack.
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While in January a seal was stoned to death at Monwabisi Beach in Khayelitsha. Four suspects were arrested for the attack and during the arrest on of the suspects said they were approached by a traditional healer to kill the animal for R3000.