The Leopard Seal

A story from a reader about a Leopard seal found on a Cape beach

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Leopard Seal on Second Surf BeachOn Saturday the 23rd of August we were walking on Second Surf Beach towards Harmers Haven when we spotted what looked like a large bit of flotsam not far from the high dune and blow out.
As we approached we could see that it wasn't a log or a piece of yacht wreckage - the shape was wrong. It wasn't till we were about ten metres away that we saw it was a seal. We thought it might be dead because it wasn't moving at all, and was covered in sand; looking like it had rolled in with the surf and tide.

Getting closer we could see it was a leopard seal (you could tell by the spots) and it did move its head slightly so you could see it was alive. A surfer joined us in watching it and told us one of the other surfers in the water was a vet who'd had a look at the seal. He'd explained that the seal had either come ashore to die or was just resting on its way to somewhere else. (I've since been told that leopard seals shouldn't be approached closer than 30 metres. This one was at least 2.5 to 3 metres long and despite their weight and ungainly movement on sand, can still move fast enough to attack if threatened. )

We left the seal to bask in the sun hoping it was just resting.

Later that afternoon my wife and daughter went to have a look at the seal and it was still in the same spot.

Early the next morning I went back for a jog along second surf beach to check on the seal and it was gone. Some time during the night or early morning, it had dragged itself back to the sea as you could just make out the drag tracks down to the shore break.