Never mind the sharks, Devon swimmer attacked... by a seal!
FORGET Jaws, it may be maneating seals we need to fear now – after a swimmer was left bloodied when one attacked him off the Devon coast.
The man was enjoying a dip in the shallows at Mill Bay Cove when the animal tugged at his leg and thrashed against his back.
To his horror, the seal then breached the surface and stared him in the eye before sinking its teeth into his thigh – turning the water red with blood.
It comes just days after a study revealed that 11 species of sharks found in warmer parts of the world, such as Great Whites, hammerheads and blacktips, maybe swimming in British seas within 30 years as the climate changes.
Coastwatch volunteers in the area, near Dartmouth in the south, said they had never heard of a seal attack before. They suspect the seal may have lashed out to protect its pups, perhaps mistaking the swimmer for another seal. The animals can become highly defensive in breeding season.
The swimmer, who asked to remain anonymous, was wearing a three- quarter-length wetsuit at the time of the attack, which happened in extremely murky waters. He staggered to the nearby Froward Point coastwatch station and was checked over by volunteer station manager Glyn Watkin. Mr Watkin, 69, said yesterday: ‘It was about 5pm when a walker came in and reported that he had been swimming and had been bitten by a seal. ‘He had a wetsuit on and felt something brush against his leg and felt a thump on the back. Then he saw a seal come up and look at him. The wetsuit protected him but his legs were uncovered, there was a bit of blood and his skin was broken. It wasn’t a puncture wound, it was more of an abrasion.
‘I advised him to get some medical attention, but he didn’t seem concerned. I’ve never heard of a seal attack before, people swim with them.’
Coastwatch volunteers keep a note of dolphins, whales and seals for the local Brixham Sea Watch volunteers.
Founder Lindy Hingley said: ‘This is a very rare occurrence but seals tend to have poor eyesight and as this is the seal cub season the animal was probably acting in “defence mode” rather than aggressively.’ Seal attacks on humans in Britain are extremely rare. In January 2016, dog walker David Faid claimed he was attacked by a seal basking in a rock pool in Cornwall.
He said the 6ft animal almost crushed him to death when he slipped into the pool as he tried to retrieve his dog Sully, who had bitten the seal’s flipper.