Six Baby New Zealand Fur Seals: Decapitated in Marine Reserve Waters?

Summary: Who is responsible for six baby New Zealand fur seals decapitated perhaps in a marine reserve and dumped in tourist waters Dec. 17, 2018?

New Zealand fur seal pups in Ohau Stream Walkway and Waterfall, north of Squally Bay's Scenic Nook, where decapitated baby New Zealand fur seals were found December 2018; southern Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand; Friday, Oct. 1, 2004, 06:32: Andrea Schaffer, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

A tourist operator alerted authorities to six baby New Zealand fur seals decapitated apparently elsewhere and dumped Dec. 17, 2018, in the Scenic Nook tidal wash 54.68 miles (88  kilometers) from Christchurch.

Department of Conservation (DOC, Te Papa Atawhai in Maori) officials buried three of the six baby New Zealand fur seals and bore three other bodies away. Necropsies conducted at Massey University in Palmerston North, North Island, can confirm, or not, predatory fishermen, killer whales, leopard seals, New Zealand sea lions or sharks. Andy Thompson, Operations Manager at Mahaanui DOC offices, declared, "it's incredibly unlikely sharks would have bitten the heads off six seals but left the bodies untouched."

Criminal charges ensue since "Due to the disturbing, brutal and violent nature of this crime against defenseless seal pups, it has been reported to the police."

Thompson finds that "antagonism towards seals is often due to the misplaced belief that seals are eating large amounts of fish species valued for human consumption."

Antagonism that gets six baby New Zealand fur seals decapitated, perhaps in Banks Peninsula's Akaroa and Pohatu Marine Reserves, goes against marine mammal- and reserve-protective acts. The Marine Reserves Act 1971 and Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 hold as illegal harming and, without permits, hauling dolphins, dugongs, manatees, porpoises, seals and whales. Fatal injuries and illegal importation from protected into tourist waters involved physically and sexually immature pups independent at most since September 2018 and weaned as 11-months-olds.

Weaned 8- to 11-month-olds journey independently just before their physically and sexually mature four- to six-plus-year-old mothers join physically and sexually mature eight- to 10-plus-year-old males.

November 2017-January 2018 birthing and breeding kindled, firstly, dispersals September 2018 of the 2017-2018 season's newborns; secondly, births from that 2017-2018 mating; thirdly, 2018-2019 season matings.

Nine-month gestations on rocky-beached island rookeries (breeding and birthing grounds) and haul-outs (non-breeding grounds) launch black-, fine-furred, mobile, sighted pups into 14- to 17-year life cycles. The Otariidae (from Greek ωταριον, ōtarion, "little ear" and εἶδος, eîdos, "appearance") family's eared seal member manifests blubberless fur; external ear flaps; rear flippers that manage land-walking. New Zealand fur seals, named Arctocephalus forsteri ("bear head") for Georg Forster (Nov. 27, 1754-Jan. 10, 1794), need swimming and diving skills as three-day-olds and six-month-olds.

New Zealand fur seals, observed in 1828 by René Lesson (March 20, 1794-April 28, 1849), obtain big, dark-adapted eyes; pointed, small noses; slit-like nostrils; upper-lip whiskers.

Female and male 15.75- to 21.65-inch- (40- to 55-centimeter-) long, 7.28- to 8.59-pound (3.3- to 3.9-kilogram) pups present 27.78-pound (12.6-kilogram) and 31.09-pound (14.1-kilogram) weights as nine-month-olds.

Mature 4.92-foot- (1.5-meter-) long females and 8.2-foot- (2.5-meter-) long males queue up 66.14- to 110.23-pound (30- to 50-kilogram) and 198.42- to 330.69-pound (90- to 150-kilogram) weights. They realize 11- and 15-minute-long dives through 780.84- to 3,280.94-plus-foot (238- to 1,000-plus-meter) depths for barracuda, cephalopods, conger eels, jack mackerel, lantern fish, squid and whiptail. Insulating, silver-tipped black undercoats and brown-gray overcoats sustain barking, whimpering males and growling, wailing females on Chatham Island, Macquarie Island, New Zealand, southwestern Australia and Tasmania.

Perhaps December air currents transmitted, to their smell- and sound-sensitive breeding mothers, individual-specific scents and wails before trophy hunters terminated six baby New Zealand fur seals.

Decapitated baby New Zealand fur seals were found December 2018 in Squally Bay's Scenic Nook (center left), Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand; image via ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) image via NASA Terra satellite: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

New Zealand fur seal pups in Ohau Stream Walkway and Waterfall, north of Squally Bay's Scenic Nook, where decapitated baby New Zealand fur seals were found December 2018; southern Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand; Friday, Oct. 1, 2004, 06:32: Andrea Schaffer, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ohau_point.jpg; A S (adeshfr), via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/aschaf/15279957389/

Decapitated baby New Zealand fur seals were found December 2018 in Squally Bay's Scenic Nook (center left), Banks Peninsula, South Island, New Zealand; image via ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) image via NASA Terra satellite: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oblique_view_of_Banks_Peninsula_2.jpg

For further information:

Crawley, M.C.; and G.J. Wilson. February 1976. "The Natural History and Behaviour of the New Zealand Fur Seal (Arctocephalus Forsteri)." Tuatara, vol. 22, issue 1: 1-28.
Available @ http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bio22Tuat01-t1-body-d1.html

"Facts about New Zealand Fur Seal." Department of Conservation / Te Papa Atawhai > Nature > Native Animals > Marine Mammals > Seals > NZ Fur Seal.
Available @ https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/native-animals/marine-mammals/seals/nz-fur-seal/facts/

Global Biodiversity Information Facility. "Arctocephalus Forsteri (Lesson, 1828)." GBIF > Species.
Available @ https://www.gbif.org/species/2433474

Hutchins, Michael; Devra G. Kleiman; Valerius Geist; and Melissa C. McDade. (eds.). Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Second edition. Volume 14, Mammals III. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Kirkwood, Roger; and Simon Goldsworthy. 2013. Fur Seals and Sea Lions. Collingwood, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO PUBLISHING, Australian Natural History Series.

Lesson, René Primevère. Janvier 1828. "Otarie de Forster, Otaria Fosteri, N." Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle, tome treiziéme PAN-PIV: 421-422. Paris, France: Rey et Gravier; Baudouin Frères.
Available @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/24378054

"Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978." New Zealand Government > Parliamentary Counsel Office / Te Tari Tohutohu Pāremata > New Zealand Legislation > Reprint as at 1 October 2018.
Available @ http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1978/0080/latest/DLM25111.html

"Marine Reserves Act 1971." New Zealand Government > Parliamentary Counsel Office / Te Tari Tohutohu Pāremata > New Zealand Legislation > Reprint as at 1 March 2017.
Available @ http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1971/0015/latest/whole.html

"Six New Zealand Fur Seal/Kekeno Pups Found Decapitated." Te Papa Atawhai / Department of Conservation / Te Papa Atawhai > News > Media Releases > 2018 > 19 December 2018.
Available @ https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2018/six-new-zealand-fur-sealkekeno-pups-found-decapitated/