Cape Town - The infamous sealman of Hout Bay who feeds fish to seals in the harbour and charges tourists to have photos taken with them, says local youngsters are muscling in on the action.
Danny Abrahams, known in the harbour as “Blitz”, said it used to be just him feeding the seals.
“Now the competition is tough.”
And he says the newcomers are rude, often stealing his fish.
Abrahams says it takes eight years to train a seal.
His first was a massive bull seal called “Pietie-Boy” who would delight tourists by gently taking fish directly from Abrahams’s mouth and didn’t seem to mind if people climbed onto his back for a picture.
But Pietie-Boy died of old-age last year and the new star of the show is called “Puppy”.
Tourists love the show but the authorities don’t approve, and Abrahams was once arrested after punching former harbour master Pat Stacey in the face.
Abrahams has also been accused of threatening tourists if “they don’t cough up”.
Stacey, who has since retired, said Abrahams had appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court at the time for assault and feeding seals, and undertook to stop.
“But there is no proper law enforcement in Hout Bay harbour. They don’t even have a harbour master – they haven’t filled my post three years after I retired.”
And Abrahams has no intention of stopping. “Even if they pass the law saying you can’t get closer than 30 metres to seals,” Abrahams said, referring to draft new regulations issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs recently, which says boats and divers will have to observe a 30m buffer zone between any group of 50 or more seals.
Cape of Good Hope SPCA’s chief executive Allan Perrins said it was illegal to feed a wild animal.
He said seals were intelligent animals and, like dogs, would respond favourably to rewards.
Cape Argus