Kids feed seals for tourists
2013-01-16 13:02
Cape Town - Young boys who dangle
fish from their mouths to attract seals at Hout Bay harbour are not only
putting their lives in danger but are contravening the law, according to a
report on Tuesday.
Former master of the Western Cape
harbour Pat Stacey told the Cape Times the boys fed the seals in this manner in
the hope of collecting a few rand from tourists.
But in 2009, a 14-year-old boy was
dangling over the jetty with a fish in his mouth when a seal jumped from the
water and bit him on his mouth.
"We always had a problem with
people feeding seals, it was a constant battle and now it's carrying on,"
Stacey said.
The act is illegal under the Seabirds
and Seals Protection Act of 1973.
Hout Bay local Danny
"Blitz" Abrahams previously faced charges under the act after feeding
seals for many years, according to the report.
He enticed a large male seal known
as "Pietie Boy" onto a jetty where he fed it fish and charged
tourists R10 to be photographed sitting on the animal.
- SAPA
