City receives a donation of seal stretchers

12 December 2024

The City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews, visited Sealand in Hout Bay yesterday, 11 December 2024, to receive a donation of 10 seal stretchers. These seal stretchers will assist various City teams with the handling of large dead seal carcasses along Cape Town’s coastline and will also be used for rescuing dolphins and other sea creatures, such as pygmy sperm whales.

‘This is the first time we will be issuing seal stretchers to various teams to assist with carcass removal from our beaches. We are very grateful for the donation of these very strong seal stretchers from Sealand. Seals frequent our entire coastline and are continually moving through the area with the main two colonies being at Duiker Island and Seal Island. A few thousand seals wash up dead each year, especially after pupping season. During this time in particular, the City has to remove many carcasses. The donation of these stretchers will help staff removing these carcases in a much safer and more efficient manner.  In addition to this, these stretchers will also be used to rescue other stranded marine mammals such as dolphins ,’ said the City’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoral Committee Member for Spatial Planning and Environment, Alderman Eddie Andrews.

The seal population in Cape Town comprises of the seals at Duiker Island, which varies between 7 000 to 8 000 at any given time, and approximately 20 000 at Seal Island along with many small colonies and other seals moving through the area.

Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office