We are well into the second month of the year - and we noticed that entanglements or at least entanglement sightings are increasing. During breeding season, males spend more time on the beach for mating, and the females stay with the newborn pups for a while. Entanglements happen inside the ocean, not on the beach. The less time our seals spend in the water, the less likely they are to get entangled. Now that they are back to their usual habits, entanglements are back to "normal" levels. In January, we had many days of seal patrol without rescues or even entanglement sightings. In February, our rescue and sighting numbers are on the sharp rise. We have already caught a lot more seals than last year at the same time.
The youngsters are also giving us headaches. As cute and irresistible as they are - seal pups are also extremely playful and simply cannot resist playing with plastic rubbish. We do not know if there are more seal pup entanglements this year, or if we have simply gotten better at spotting them. They are our favourite rescues because they are easy to catch, and often their little friends interact with us in the most unpredictable ways. Typical seal pup responses to our rescue team include curious observing, biting, running away, barking, or going back to sleep. It's never boring.
A visit to Cape Cross last Friday has been very successful with 5 seal rescues in one morning - in spite of Denzil forgetting his shoes at home. In Africa, we are used to making a plan when the next shop or any sign of modern civilisation is often many kilometres or miles away. Luckily Naude found some duct tape in his car and Denzil quickly taped his flip flops onto his feet to protect himself from the sharp edges of Cape Cross rocks.
