Seal bites off woman's nose
31/10/2005 08:10 - (SA)

Tisha Steyn

George - A woman from Herold's Bay who tried to help a female seal will have to get a new nose after the seal ripped the woman's nose from her face.

Winnie Swanepoel, head of the SPCA in George, picked Elsie van Tonder's nose up on the beach and rushed it to hospital, but it could not be surgically reattached to the 49-year-old's face.

Van Tonder was bitten in the face and on the leg at about 17:00 on Saturday when she and a few other people tried to roll the young seal onto a blanket to get it back into the water.

"The seal was lying among the rocks and hissed when my mother stroked its face and head," Louise Eliis, 25, Van Tonder's daughter, said from their flat in George on Sunday.

"We thought the seal was dying and my mother suggested that we should roll her onto my one-year-old baby, Elouise's blanket and try to get her back into the water.

"She rolled the seal over, but the seal rolled back onto her back immediately. When she tried to roll the seal over again, she was bitten in the face and on the thigh.

"She bled a lot. Johan (Viviers, her mother's friend) and I helped her into my car and rushed her to George Hospital.

"The nose could not be reattached," Ellis said. "My mother will be transferred to Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on Monday. She will have to undergo extensive surgery.

"We believe that it was negligent of the SPCA and CapeNature to not put up boards warning that seals could be dangerous," Ellis said. "Who is going to pay for her pain suffering and plastic surgery?"

He said government would probably carry the bulk of the cost for the reconstructive surgery. Several operations might be necessary to recover from the injury, but the patient would not have to remain in hospital all the time.

Swanepoel said she was informed on Saturday morning that there was a seal in the parking area in Herold's Bay.

"The seal jumped down from the parking area and lay on the rocks. We asked people to leave it alone."

Dirk Wessels of Marine and Coastal Management said on Sunday that the seal was probably irritated by the people's repeated attempts to get her back into the water. There are many Cape furry seals along the Southern Cape coast, he said. They live in the sea for months, but do come out on the beach from time to time to rest until they go back into the water out of their own volition.

"They do not have to eat every day because they have a thick layer of fat that they can draw on," Wessels said.

"This was an unfortunate incident and we are sorry that it happened. People should realise that seals are wild animals and can be dangerous. They should be left alone. The law is very strict and anyone who bothers marine animals or birds could be sent to prison," he said.