Increased aggression in Cape fur seals, which has resulted in attacks on humans on Cape Town beaches, has been directly linked to rabies.
Also read: Public urged to steer clear of seals following confirmed rabies case
This is one of the findings of City marine mammal experts, veterinarians, marine scientists, and representatives from various government departments who attended a two-day workshop in Cape Town to investigate the potential causes of an increase in the frequency of unusual and unprovoked Cape fur seal bites and aggression.
The ‘unusual’ seal attacks along the coast in recent months have raised concerns about suspicious seal behaviour.
In a recent incident in March, a seal attacked and bit divers off the Atlantic coast near Oudekraal, injuring a Portuguese tourist and a South African.
Last year, a video of a young seal exhibiting unusually aggressive behaviour at Clifton 4th Beach went viral, depicting the seal attacking a child and other beachgoers playing in the surf.
The City stated that experts at the workshop discovered that, while seal aggression was normal, the increased aggression could be directly linked to rabies spread.
‘Some levels of aggression in seals should be considered normal and may arise from various causes including territorial behaviour, maternal protectiveness, pain or distress, as well as from poor health condition caused by various disease states.’
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‘However, excessive aggression associated with unusual behaviour that is being documented in multiple cases is not normal and is directly linked to the now confirmed presence of the rabies virus in some individual Cape fur seals.’
‘Rabies appears to be well-established in the Cape fur seal population and is unlikely to be eradicable and should now be considered endemic requiring ongoing and long-term management by coastal authorities,’ the City said.
Initially, it appeared that seals were infected with rabies from another wildlife population rather than local domestic dogs.
The experts noted that the impact of rabies on the seal population was unknown, but in other animals, rabies typically flared and declined rather than causing mass mortality.
The City stated that coastal authorities, in collaboration with the State Vet, veterinary experts, researchers, marine mammal experts, and animal welfare organisations, will continue to implement proactive measures to manage the rabies outbreak.
‘Questions however remain about the differences between seals – highly gregarious animals living in very large colonies – and other terrestrial animals in which rabies occurs. Given that this is the first documented rabies infection in a marine mammal population there are many unknowns,’ the City said.
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Also read:
Confirmed case of rabies in a Cape Fur seal causes major concern
Picture: NSRI