The Two Oceans Aquarium wildlife team has tagged and vaccinated a crab-eater seal which had travelled to the Cape’s coastline this week from Antarctica. The species is seldom seen in South African waters.
The young female seal was initially sighted at Baden Powell Drive and later in the Strand area.
The aquarium team said she had travelled an estimated 4,500km from her Antarctic home, journeying even further than the southern elephant seals that have visited SA in recent years.
City and environmental teams cordoned off the area to protect both the seal and members of the public, ensuring the animal had adequate space to rest undisturbed. Subsequently a coordinated marine wildlife response team decided to flipper tag and vaccinate the seal.
“Flipper tagging provides a unique visual identification, allowing individual seals to be recognised over time. This helps confirm whether repeated sightings involve the same seal rather than different animals, particularly when a seal hauls out at multiple locations along the coastline,” said Martine Viljoen, marine wildlife team manager at the Two Oceans Aquarium.
The rabies jab was administered as part of a study currently being implemented for Cape fur seals and other vagrant seal species, including elephant seals, the aquarium said.
“Given that crab-eater seals travel vast distances and interact with numerous marine species in the Southern Ocean, vaccination is a proactive step to reduce potential disease transmission risks.”
TimesLIVE
