A string of fur seal attacks on surfers and beach-goers in Cape Town has been linked to an outbreak of rabies, with 11 seals testing positive for the virus so far.
Rabid seals in South Africa are attacking people in the first known major outbreak of the disease among marine mammals. The usually playful seals have been exhibiting strange and aggressive behavior, alarming surfers and beach-goers, according to experts.
Rabies is a deadly viral disease primarily transmitted through saliva that affects the central nervous system. Symptoms include fever, pain, and tingling, pricking, or burning sensations at the wound site, according to the World Health Organization. If medical attention is not promptly provided after exposure, the virus can lead to fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms typically appear one to three months after exposure but can take anywhere from a week to two years to manifest.
The last recorded case of a seal contracting rabies was in 1980 in Norway’s Svalbard islands. This new surge in cases is thought to be the world’s first significant outbreak of rabies in marine mammals, though how the disease entered the seal population remains unclear.
Gregg Oelofse, the coastal manager for the City of Cape Town, noted that South African fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) began behaving oddly a few years ago. An increase in reported seal attacks in late 2021 indicated that the animals were acting more aggressively toward humans. Alongside scientists and animal welfare experts, Oelofse’s team captured and tested several seals in 2022 to determine the cause of this aggression. However, since rabies was not initially considered a likely cause, it was not tested for, leaving the team without answers.
The breakthrough came earlier this year when a seal bit at least three surfers within minutes in the waters off Muizenberg beach, 12 miles south of Cape Town’s city center. One surfer described in a Facebook video how a seal charged at him, bit through his wetsuit, and continued attacking his surfboard.
Around the same time, a seal was seen coming ashore with bloody injuries, likely inflicted by another aggressive seal. These incidents prompted authorities to euthanize and test four seals for rabies. Three of the four tested positive, and the number of confirmed rabies cases has since grown to 11 along Cape Town’s 190-mile-long coastline.
Despite daily interactions between seals and surfers, the disease appears to have remained within the seal population. “We think quite a few people have been bitten by rabid seals, but luckily no human has got infected yet,” Oelofse told sources. The reason for this remains unknown.
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