Caring for Cape fur Seals

Cape fur seals are charming regulars along the coast of South Africa and Namibia. As animals that have a long lifetime and roam widely across the ocean,  they act as indicators of marine health which helps us to understand the condition of our oceans. Unfortunately, seals are impacted by human activities such as direct harvesting, overfishing, entanglement, and pollution. Entanglement in marine plastics ends in a long and painful death. At some colonies, direct harvests continue to disrupt colony life causing unnecessary pain and suffering to these animals.

We have recently observed mass die-offs at the colonies, where emaciated females are aborting their pregnancies and animals of all ages are suffering, with dead seals being found along the whole west coast of South Africa.  This is totally out of the norm and has left us, as scientists, extremely concerned and we want to know what is the cause of this unusual, distressing event!

With your help we can do more - We are working to understand: 

1) What causes mass die offs of Cape fur seals

2) The impacts of pollution on seals

3) The impacts of harvesting on seals

4) The behaviour of seals


Hi my name is Dr Tess Gridley and I co-direct a non-profit organisation in Southern Africa called Sea Search - Namibian Dolphin Project. This fundraiser will support scientific research and capacity building in South Africa and Namibia to help identify polluters and inform policy to instigate change. Overall your donation will help undo some of the harm cause by humans. With your support we can shine a light on these important conservation and welfare issues affecting marine life and give suffering animals a voice.