Tests on dead Cape fur seals in South Africa have shown some had rabies
FILE — People walk past a dead Cape fur seal on Melkbosstrand beach near Cape Town, South Africa, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. At least 24 Cape fur seals that were found dead or euthanized in various locations on South Africa's west and south coast had rabies, state veterinarian Dr. Lesley van Helden said., is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Rabies spreads via saliva, usually through bites but also sometimes when animals lick and groom each other.
Authorities in South Africa first discovered rabies in Cape fur seals in June after a dog was bitten by a seal on a Cape Town beach. The dog became infected with rabies, prompting rabies tests on brain samples from 135 seal carcasses that researchers had already collected since 2021. Around 20 new samples also were collected and more positives have come back on subsequent tests.
There are approximately 2 million seals migrating back and forth between South Africa, Namibia and Angola along Africa's south and west coast. The most likely possibility, van Helden said, is that rabies was first passed onto seals by jackals in Namibia, where the wolf-like animals hunt seal pups on the coastline.
The seals live in close proximity to people in places in South Africa, especially on beaches around the city of Cape Town. The city has issued warnings to locals, said Gregg Oelofse, Cape Town's head of coastal and environmental management. One of the positive rabies tests was on a seal carcass collected in August 2022, meaning rabies had been in the seal population for at least two years, Oelofse said.Experts said there were still many unknowns.
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