Seems like the key part of the story is that it was seal breeding season.
This is the first ever story of a seal attacking a human - and it's highly unlikely it will happen again.
Most people, visiting Cape Town for the first time, will be more concerned about the bigger fish. And again, we don't get shark attacks on Cape Town windsurfing beaches.
There are however more shark sightings on the (warmer) Indian Ocean coastline.
Select to expand quoteBasher said..
Seems like the key part of the story is that it was seal breeding season.
This is the first ever story of a seal attacking a human - and it's highly unlikely it will happen again.
Most people, visiting Cape Town for the first time, will be more concerned about the bigger fish. And again, we don't get shark attacks on Cape Town windsurfing beaches.
There are however more shark sightings on the (warmer) Indian Ocean coastline.
I don't think that your assertion is correct, that there are no seal attacks on surfers / swimmers in the last year around Cape Town. I have been warned before by locals that seals are actually more of a thread to water activists in the Cape Town area then sharks.
iol.co.za/capetimes/news/2025-11-05-how-surfer-escaped-vicious-seal-attack/
capespca.co.za/wildlife-news/unfounded-rabies-reports-in-seals/
you just need to google to find plenty of reports...
Select to expand quoteBasher said..
This is the first ever story of a seal attacking a human - and it's highly unlikely it will happen again.
There have been many attacks by seals on humans -at least in the pacific. In fact there was a cluster of seal attacks on surfers in San Diego earlier this year.
I read a new article about this a few days ago on a UK website. It said rabies can make animals more aggressive, and rabies can be transmitted by saliva when animals bite or animals lick you. So stay away from aggressive animals, and dont kiss the friendly ones either.
From 2024
www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/11/cape-fur-seals-rabies-surfers-south-africa
