The Overstrand Municipality has urged visitors to the Onrus Beach, to stay away from the Elephant Seal spotted on the beach on Friday.
Dean O’Neill, Municipal Manager, said the Southern Elephant Seal has come out of the water and is now resting on the Beach.
The Environmental and Conservation Management team from the town, placed barriers around the animal, on Friday, in a bid to protect it.
“This is a wild animal that can deliver a powerful bite. We appeal to people to use their common sense, respect the barriers and be responsible and stay clear” said O’Neill.
Visitors are also urged to not keep pouring water over the seal.
The Hout Bay Seal Rescue Centre, last month, appealed to beach goers, to keep dogs on a leash, to protect pups.
“Right now, along our coastline, thousands of Cape Fur Seal pups are being born. It should be a season of new life and joy… but for so many, it is the beginning of heartbreak.
Tiny pups are being abandoned, torn away from their mothers in storms, or washing up on beaches weak, starving, and crying out for help. Some don’t even get that chance. Off-leash dogs attack them. Well-meaning people chase them back into the sea — not knowing that pups cannot swim until 4 months old, and being forced into the water too soon means one thing: they drown” wrote the Rescue Centre.
Picture: Supplied/ World Atlas