‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers

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Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.

“I was out surfing the other day, when this seal popped up in the lineup [of surfers] to sun itself,” says Gregg Oelofse, who is in charge of coastal management for Cape Town council. “Usually, surfers would enjoy the interaction. But now everyone was paddling as fast as they could to get away.”

Last month, a single seal bit several surfers in a matter of minutes and another seal swam ashore with horrific facial injuries that could only have been inflicted by a seriously aggressive animal. These attacks convinced authorities to euthanise four animals and send their bodies to be tested for rabies.

Three of those four seals tested positive, and the number of cases has since risen to nine.