15 Cape fur seals were recently rescued from dry dock havoc thanks to the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Marine Wildlife Management Programme and the Cape of Good Hope SPCA!
Cape Town, South Africa (13 October 2024) — A headcount of 15 Cape fur seals were found huddled together with no way out inside a Robinson Dry Dock late last month before a speedy seal rescue ensued.
The Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation’s Marine Wildlife Management Programme (MWMP) team received word of the ordeal, but had no idea it was quite so many seals until they arrived.
For context, dry docks are not a friend to marine creatures. When docks are drained (generally for maintenance of a boat) marine creatures that swam in before the drainage can get stranded. The walls are very high and there isn’t a way back to the water unless you trek up the stairs which, in a seal’s case, isn’t exactly an easy stroll, no less something they would know to do.
At the scene, the group of 15 were spotted with one older seal seemingly guarding the little colony that included youngsters. The Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation explains that these seals had followed a shoal of mullet to the dock before it was drained.
Seasoned seal hero Martine Viljoen knew that this was not a task that the MWMP squad could tackle alone following her assessment of the situation and back up was needed!
The Cape of Good Hope SPCA was more than happy to assist and sent their wildlife specialists Jon Friedman, Trevor Rodney and Rudi Philander to help the MWMP’s Martine, Claire Taylor, Ayanda Cimani, Abdullah Abrahams, Saliegh Adams, Louis Du Buisson and Ayrton King.
With many experts on board, it was time to get down to business.
An important part of the rescue was ensuring that the seals’ stress levels were kept to a minimum; no small ask for the colony who were already rightfully distressed about their situation. A distressed animal (especially the likes of a Cape fur seal who can get quite defensive upon feeling threatened) is much harder to rescue.
The team began prompting the seals to move outward into the open part of the dry dock so that they could use special poles to hoof them (safely) up the stairs. Once they were up to the top, they could make their way to another area and dive back into the ocean.
The problem was that the seals were getting pretty stressed as more members of their group started ‘disappearing’. So, a new plan had to be devised; one that involved securing the seals in a better way thanks to a specially designed net and a lot of hard work.
The efforts took many hours, a lot of dedication and loads of care and consideration. But ultimately, it was a seal success.
Martine shares that the SPCA Wildlife’s help was imperative to the day’s happy ending.
“I am immensely proud of the dedication and skill shown by the team involved, which allowed us to achieve the best possible outcome for the day without mishap,” she praised.
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