Santa the seal also wanted to do some Christmas shopping!
Western Cape, South Africa (21 December 2022) – Even Cape Town’s wildlife seems immune to the Christmas spirit! At a time of year when the shops are packed and companies are vying for our attention with all kinds of gimmicks in order to sell the latest fad, we are pretty used to seeing strange things at the malls, but when the Cape of Good Hope SPCA Wildlife Department received a call about a Cape fur seal crossing the busy Jakes Gerwel Drive opposite the Vangate Mall in Athlone this morning, even we had to wonder.
Arriving at the scene, SPCA Chief Inspector Jaco Pieterse and Inspector Lwazi Ntungele found a large adult female Cape Fur Seal wandering about in traffic while attracting a crowd of bemused onlookers. The City of Cape Town’s Metro Police were also on the scene, controlling the traffic to keep the animal safe.
The SPCA inspectors, experienced in the ways of fur seals, acted quickly to get the animal safely into a crate before a quick health assessment and on its way to the nearest quiet beach where it can recover from its ordeal in peace.
How a seal got to be there in the first place so far from the ocean will remain a mystery.
One theory is that it had swum into a canal and was washed further away by strong currents or that it was intended to be an unusual Christmas gift for someone’s mother-in-law and then merely dumped when its captor saw the price of fish! Either way, Santa the seal (as onlookers named her) skipped into the water and swam off with a wave of her flipper; her Christmas shopping will have to wait.
The Cape of Good SPCA reminds people not to approach any wild animal, especially Cape fur seals, which can be quite aggressive and will not hesitate to bite when cornered or feeling threatened. It is safer to contact the Cape of Good Hope SPCA’s Wildlife Department on 021 700 4158/9 or 083 326 1604 and our trained team members will assist the wild animal in need.
Santa the seal would like you to join her in appealing to the spirit of the season and sharing her appreciation for the work our Wildlife Team performs (for not only seals) by making a festive donation to the SPCA – www.capespca.co.za/donate
by 