seal.watch / south africa

South Africa · public record

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South Africa · observation

Nelson Mandela Gateway, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town

· Western Cape

The aquarium team responded to a juvenile male Cape fur seal resting on a platform with a severe neck entanglement.

Species
Cape fur seal
Number of seals
1
Attributed name
Unidentified
Source
Two Oceans Aquarium / Marine Wildlife Management Programme

About this record

Supporting evidence
https://www.aquarium.co.za/news/entangled-cape-fur-seal-rescue-in-cape-town-what-it-reveals-about-ocean-health — Original responder account explicitly dates the encounter 29 June 2026.
Identification confidence
Not recorded
Editorial status
Published by Seal Watch.

Source wording, attributed names and approximate date labels are preserved. A published report does not establish a verified animal identity.

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Other reports with the same broad area or attributed name.

Sturrock Dry Dock, Cape Town harbour

Responders located four Cape fur seals together in a dry-dock tunnel. The same group had been reported earlier in August; subsequent rescue stages are part of this encounter.

Source: Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation / Marine Wildlife Management Programme

Mossel Bay harbour

Harbour security alerted SMART to an undernourished Cape fur seal yearling. It was captured for care and died the following day; test results were still pending in the report.

Source: Chelsea Pieterse, Mossel Bay Advertiser; SMART

The Point, Mossel Bay

SMART captured a seal at The Point. A later report identified this as the Mossel Bay animal that tested positive for rabies and avian influenza.

Source: Chelsea Pieterse, Mossel Bay Advertiser; SMART

Little Brak River bank and beach

An adult seal was observed alive on the riverbank in the morning. SMART monitored it before it was euthanised later that day; the source reported a subsequent positive rabies test.

Source: Gabriélla Siebritz, Mossel Bay Advertiser; SMART