Mystery of 7,000 dead seals on Namibia beach

An estimated 7,000 Cape fur seals have been discovered dead at a breeding colony in central Namibia, scientists said on Saturday.

Conservationist Naude Dreyer of the charity Ocean Conservation Namibia began noticing dead seals littering the sandy beaches of the Pelican Point colony near Walvis Bay city in September.

Then in the first two weeks of October he found large numbers of seal foetuses at the colony, Dr Tess Gridley from the Namibian Dolphin Project said.

Fur seals normally give birth between mid-November and mid-December.

Gridley estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 female seals had miscarried young with more still being found.