‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers
Seals have been biting people in the first big outbreak of the disease in marine mammals, writes Nick Dall in Cape Town
Yes, obviously, rabies is a problem for a mammal, death will ensue, no? By hydorphobia in a marine mammal is gonna be tough.
Seals and sealions don’t drink seawater. They get their fluid intake from their diet of fish.
That’s why the seals were biting the surfers. They wanted to surf ashore and make off in their victim’s Volkswagen Beetle.
I believe it’s the fear of swallowing, that rabies induces, i.e. the anticipation of intense pain swallowing the water will cause.
“Seals and sealions don’t drink seawater. They get their fluid intake from their diet of fish.”
What if they only ate pizzas ?
Otto, in questions we can answer:
Just like cats.. Feed too many carbohydrates to a pure carnivore like a seal and you will get an olfactory result you *will* remember for the rest of your life.
This answer brought to you by a lovely ( you could sort-of pet the bastard and not lose a hand or more…) seal at Ecomare, Texel, the Netherlands, who had the habit of scavenging the bins and Looking Sad at Tourists when he thought he could get away with it..
Turns out seals *can* be gas-propelled, and that this is a state you definitely will want to avoid. At all costs.