A second dead seal has washed up at Black’s Beach
Posted onSometime overnight on Thursday September 23rd a second dead seal washed up on shore at Blacks Beach. The dawn patrol walk up the beach on the following morning smelt immediately and distinctively of death as you came to the end of Black Gold Road. The adolescent seal is the second to wash up just north of South Peak in as many months.
The rotting clump of lifeless flesh, like the first victim in late August, displayed violent unmistakable bite marks that appear to be at least 20 inches in diameter. The decomposing carcass remains at the high tide line today (October 1st) that produces a pungent chum oil slick in the water at the highest of tides. With the recent annual migration of juvenile Great White sharks coming to an end, many seasoned surfers are wondering if the juveniles have grown to adolescents and gained more confidence in their hunting skills or if a larger more ominous threat is patrolling our local waters. A shark expert would have to make the call on the size and species of this apex predator, but the photos below paint a disturbing picture as summer has turned to fall at Blacks Beach.
Story by Michael Schoaff / Photos by Gus Hartman
