Bull seal kills seal pups: first ever images off the Welsh coast

FOR THE FIRST TIME, a bull seal has been caught on camera killing a seal pup - on two separate occasions. The grisly events were seen and photographed by naturalist David Boyle during the seal pupping survey on Skomer, off the Pembrokeshire coast, in late October.

The Countryside Council for Wales regularly surveys and monitors Atlantic grey seals - but this sight is unprecedented in Welsh waters. Marine experts have no real idea what triggered the attacks.
Describing what he saw, David Boyle said: "I've been surveying seals for several years, and although many people think of them as cute, during the breeding season the bulls can be fierce as they defend their territory. In the scene I witnessed, the bull seal seemed to be deliberately drowning the newly moulted pup. He then gouged a massive piece out of its neck. It was a gruesome sight that reminds us that seals are wild and unpredictable creatures."

If you can report a similar event please contact the Countyside Council for Wales's Skomer Marine Nature Reserve team on Skomer.MNR@ccw.gov.uk or telephone CCW's enquiry unit on 0845 1306229.

In Skomer Marine Nature Reserve, 132 seal pups 132 seal pups were born last year, with 77% surviving. Apart from the killings, seal surveyors say this was a typical year.

Skomer Island is owned by the Countryside Council for Wales and managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.


For more information about the project contact Helen Evans, Press Officer, on 01248 387377 or 07717225589.

The Countryside Council for Wales is an Assembly Government Sponsored Body, working for a better Wales where everyone values and cares for our natural environment. More information about our work is available on www.ccw.gov.uk

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• bull
• seal
• kills
• pup
• pups
• marine
• nature
• reserve
• skomer
• countryside
• council
• for
• wales
• ccw

[5RIPLEY]

0.42 The bird ; Ok students ! listen up ! we got the spine here ! everyone can see it ?? yeah ?? lets continue the surgery then..

[realloyd20]

@Locustgeargirl animals do think, and they were created without thought of right and wrong a looooong time ago, im sure by now they have evolutionized...and i geuss humans didnt eat enough of that fruit, becuase we obviously took the wrong path

[Blackclaw1000]

@Locustgeargirl maybe also a different male in a territory thats not respectet the babys off the other seal male?

[Locustgeargirl]

simple. animals are created without excuse. animals have no sense of thought or of right or wrong. however humans r created with excuse & given knowledge or right and wrong. end of story.

[gottaluvbirds]

@pablolopezcr animals do think. were animals arent we?! instinct is a word meaning something natural thought such as a solutuion to something. an animals instinct is to survive, instinct has nothing to do with how they do it, just 'it'. in conclusion, animals think, about everything they do, if instinct was an automatic 'just go do that thing', then animals would have died from anything.

[AngelLover]

Oh Nature; how people over react to you. Noone complains when a wasp steals away a spider and leaves it in a hive for all the larva to eat at its leisure, picking apart your legs up to the body slowly for day on end resulting in a long grueling a hideous death... but god forbid a seal kills a pup...

[coracleman]

pablolopezcr - what makes you think I want to change anything? What makes you think I feel sorry for the pup? I've been watching seals every season for a long time and the first rule is, we don't interfere. So you got me wrong. BTW: it's coraclewoman.

[pablolopezcr]

@coracleman Can't condemn the bull too much? Under no circunstances anybody can condemn an animal for killing another. First, there's no law forbiding them to do so (in fact, it's exactly the oposite - kill or be killed) Second, animals don't think. They act on instinct. If their instinct tells them to kill, you'd better not get in their way. Third, animals have been doing this for thousands of years. What right do you have for wanting to change this, just beacuse you feel sorry for the pup?

[Craxblorg]

Males of other species sometimes kill infants they believe not to be their own offspring to ensure that only their genes are passed down, but I have no idea if a seal would do this. It would make some sense as I think bull seals live in harems?

[coracleman]

bull seals kill for the same reasons other animals do - territory, or just that the pup smelled wrong or maybe people had been around and disturbed him. We don't always know why it happens, and yes, it's heartbreaking, but until we really know why, we cannot condemn the bull too much. We have a fair few seals around these parts and usually they don't like humans to get too close.

coraclewoman