Dozens of dead seal pups with ‘their heads torn off’ have been found on beaches along the California coast since 2016, raising concerns humans may be to blame.
However, scientists found the cuts were jagged and not as precise as those made by a knife, leading them on a mission to uncover what was responsible.
A team on the case set up camera traps in the state’s northern region with hopes of catching the culprit in action – and they were surprised by what they saw.
The footage showed a coyote dragging a lifeless pup into the camera shot and gnawing off its head, confirming the animals are feasting on the seals at several back locations across California.
Dozens of dead seal pups with ‘their heads torn off’ have been found on beaches along the California coast since 2016, raising concerns humans may be to blame
The cameras are part of UC Santa Cruz PhD student Frankie Gerraty’s land and sea connections research, who teamed up with Sarah Grimes, stranding coordinator at the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Mendocino County.
The team has not yet released the footage of the coyote due to conducting more research, but they plan on sharing the video at a later date.
‘It was so gruesome,’ Grimes told The Mercury News. ‘I was like marine mammal CSI, seeing all the dead pups with their heads torn off, and I’m like, ‘What the heck did that?’ ‘
Grimes noted that coyotes and seals co-exist in the same habitat, but the four-legged predator is known to go after live marine life, making the discovery ‘surprising.’
Grimes and Gerraty set up cameras at MacKerricher Beach in northern California and waited to see if anything turned up.
The footage showed a coyote dragging a lifeless pup into the camera shot and gnawing off its head, confirming the animals are feasting on the seals at several back locations across California
‘We set up camera traps and got one really solid video of a coyote dragging a harbor seal pup and beheading it,’ Gerraty told The Mercury News.
‘We are pretty confident there has been predation at four sites along the Northern California coast.’
However, the researchers have yet to uncover why coyotes only feast on the heads and leave the body behind.
One of the first sightings of headless seal pups was made in 2016 by Steveston resident David Stuart, who was walking his dog on the beach.
Stuart noticed the body was without cuts, and the one around the neck was ‘surgical,’ he said.
‘The seal’s rectum has been removed and cauterized; it makes no sense,’ Stuart told the Richmond News in 2016.
‘This was a crime scene as far as I was concerned; this needed to be looked at.’
He notified authorities who believed the wounds were ‘consistent with that of a large propeller.’
But more than seven years later, scientists have found the culprit behind the seal murders.