Crazed killer seals spark fears for swimmers

THEY are one of nature’s most charismatic creatures with a reputation for being playful and friendly but some of Britain’s grey seals have turned into crazed killers.

10 Grey seals were released on the southern coast near Czolpino on the Baltic Sea 28 Jun 2005. Fitted out with microchips an...

THEY are one of nature’s most charismatic creatures with a reputation for being playful and friendly but some of Britain’s grey seals have turned into crazed killers.

They have been filmed hunting down, attacking and eating porpoises. And with adult porpoises similar in size and weight to grown men, it raises concerns swimmers could be next.

Grey seals are known to have been responsible for at least four attacks. Both adult and juvenile harbour porpoises have been chased, caught and eaten.

Video footage of one attack shows a male seal contentedly ripping chunks of blubber off his prey as the water around turns bloody.

Dafydd Rees, who made the recording off the coast of Pembrokeshire during one of his regular boat trips for a wildlife cruise company, said: “I have never seen anything like it. It was really surprising to see.”

Grey seals normally feed on fish no bigger than salmon but have recently been blamed for attacks on porpoises off the coast of Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Dutch research concluded hundreds of dead cetaceans (marine mammals) bore the tell-tale marks of a seal attack.

The Utrecht University study found the seals had a particular penchant for young porpoises with a thick layer of energy-packed fat.

They said the seals may have developed a taste for porpoises after sampling some caught in fishing nets. And with many of the mutilated carcasses having been washing up on beaches popular with swimmers, they warned humans could be next.

“People should be aware that the largest predator in our countries is the grey seal. They are related to bears and have the teeth to go with that lineage,” the researchers said.

“In the water, they are much more able than the most agile human swimmers and have made the switch from eating fish to hunting porpoises, another mammal.

“To date, there have been no reports of serious attacks or wounds inflicted, but some people have been bitten by inquisitive or provoked seals. The advice would thus be to be aware seals are not out there to cuddle, and to keep some ­distance.”

This is not the first time the cuddly image of the seal has been tarnished. In November, it emerged Antarctic fur seals had been raping king penguins.