A “huge rise” in dead seals recorded around the Irish coast includes a number with what appear to be gunshot wounds.
As the Irish Examiner reports, Seal Rescue Ireland has released figures from its ‘deal seal database’ which show 202 reports in 2020, more than double the number in 2019.
This year alone the figure has reached more than 60 of the protected marine wildlife species washed up within just six weeks, predominantly on the South and South East coasts, with some of the latest in East Cork between Ballycotton and Shanagarry.
A number of these and other carcasses have been found with holes in their bodies.
But Melanie Croce of Seal Rescue Ireland says that without proper post-mortems, it is impossible to confirm if these wounds are from gunshots or even related to the cause of death.
In a comment to Afloat.ie, Croce added: “Based on the evidence we’ve been seeing, the most likely cause of death is due to being caught up in storms (climate change) as well as being caught in fishing nets and drowning (bycatch).
“The holes, which do appear in large numbers of the carcasses being reported, are most likely due to scavenging animals.”
The Irish Examiner has more on the story HERE.
Update 17/2/21: This article was updated to correct the headline and intro and include additional comment.
