Seal of approval for visitors

THE visit to the Dublin coast of an exotic creature from the Arctic ended in tragedy recently.

The young hooded seal came ashore in a distressed state and died a few hours later. The carcass has been sent for post-mortem examination.

We have two resident seal species, the grey and the common, but others visit our shores occasionally. They are mostly lost souls wandering far from their normal range. A creature shot near Roundstone in 1855 may have been a harp seal but the victim sank before its identity could be confirmed. Fergus O’Rourke in his Fauna of Ireland (1970) mentions the capture of a ringed seal in Galway Bay in 1895. The animal was taken to Dublin Zoo where “it lived for some time”.