A well-known seal snorkelling operation has closed down in Cape Town due to the threat posed by the creatures with rabies.
Other dive operators have dropped seal colony visits from their programme after confirmation that rabies is present in the Cape fur seal population.
The move comes amid mounting concern about the deadly virus and the possibility of it spreading, resulting in more widespread aggressive incidents. To date between 60 to 80 aggressive seals have either been euthanised or are being monitored, according to a well-placed source.
“It was tragic when we chose to close down,” said Animal Ocean owner Steve Benjamin in response to queries. “But we made the decision from an ethical and safety standpoint. We knew that rabies was causing our seals to become aggressive.”
News of rabid seals, which first surfaced last year, followed mounting concern about aggressive seals and higher mortality flagged by several local dive operators and marine scientists. Several people have been bitten over the past two years, including swimmers, divers and beach walkers.
“It was unexplainable — we didn’t know that it could be linked to rabies,” said Benjamin, who has since refocused his 15-year-old business on other dive activities. “Rabies is severe. Left untreated it is lethal. And putting people at risk is not what the trip is about.
“Multiple other operators also closed down and decided not to offer seal scuba diving because we know there will be attacks on our guests and our staff and that is not something we can tolerate. It's just not responsible to take anyone into a situation where you know there's a high chance of this abnormal behaviour caused by a deadly virus.
“It's not just rabies, it is the act of getting attacked that we could not tolerate. The trips now are safe and fun again,” Benjamin said.
Simon's Town-based Dive Team founder Jan de Bruyn confirmed four recent biting incidents linked to aggressive seals. He too has avoided being close to seal colonies, which has resulted in a significant reduction in his operating area.
He anticipated the loss of seal diving would result in a business downturn as news of rabies filtered through to the international market.
“From next year I expect we will see a massive downturn in the diving market,” he said, adding seal bites could be severe.
“I have spoken to a few people who were bitten, and there's just no getting away from the animal. The concern is not necessarily just the rabies, the concern is about an aggressive animal that is trying to kill you.”
Local stakeholders commended Benjamin for stopping seal tours.
“It was a huge undertaking for Steve to shut his business and reconfigure, kudos to him for taking it on and coming back stronger with other wildlife ocean safaris,” said Dr Tess Gridley from Cape Town-based Sea Search research group which first raised the alarm about seal abnormalities.
“Unfortunately the severity of rabies in the Cape fur seals does mean that we have to change our approach to that kind of interactive tourism with seals. I think that with such a high risk to members of the public, at the very least they need to be fully briefed in terms of potentially encountering a seal that may have rabies,” Gridley said.
“They need to know that though the risk is quite small, they are going into an environment where that is a possibility.”
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