A recent wave of unprovoked seal assaults on humans in South Africa has been attributed to neurological damage caused by contaminated fish.
As a result of climate change, an influx of hazardous toxic algae known as “red tide” has invaded the South African seal population through their diet.
This has brought about a massive die-off of the seal population, yet those that remain have taken on an exceptionally hostile demeanor.
Loulou Taylor, the star of HBO’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves was a victim of a seal attack.
“Be careful swimming at Clifton! I was attacked by a seal in the water,” she wrote on Instagram, after being bitten by a seal at Clifton Beach near Cape Town.
She said she was “bitten 6 times, requiring an ER visit and strong antibiotics,” later uploading a picture of her fingers swathed in thick bandages.
She also put up a version of the famous Jaws poster, with a seal in place of the shark.
In the same vicinity, another female recounted that she was chased and pounced on by a seal without provocation, while a fisherman revealed he sustained several bites from an aggressive seal that “had attempted to drag him into deeper water”.
Marine biologists believe the seals have been poisoned by a neurotoxin known as domoic acid, which originates naturally in the environment.
Sea algae produce the chemical which gets ingested and stored in smaller animals such as crustaceans, fish and squid that then become prey to seals.
Typically, algae blooms are brief in duration. However, due to climate change and contamination caused by human activity, these events have been extended both in size and length of time – with dire consequences for seals and other marine predators – and for humans as well.
