A number of dead seals have been reported washed up along Timaru’s coastline, with the Department of Conservation monitoring the “unusual” situation.
While DOC senior biodiversity ranger Rob Carson-Iles would not confirm the number of seals found dead on the coast between Timaru and Pareora in the past week, and reported to the department on Saturday, he did say it was “unusual to see this many dead seals on this piece of coastline”.
Carson-Iles said the seals were identified as New Zealand fur seals.
He said DOC believed the seals may have died as “the result of sea lion predation”.
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Meanwhile, an injured leopard seal which made an appearance at Caroline Bay at the weekend looks to have left the beach.
Police were called to keep members of the public away from the mammal on Saturday afternoon, with reports of a parent attempting to put their child on its back to get a photograph with it.
The injured leopard seal was not at Caroline Bay when Stuff visited on Monday afternoon.
Police were at the beach for two hours, on Saturday, to manage the crowd gathered near the animal, and to allow the Timaru District Council’s animal control unit and Department of Conservation rangers to assess the mammal in “a safe capacity”.
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