Horror as vicious coyote is caught on camera decapitating baby seals

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Horror as vicious coyote is caught on camera decapitating baby seals

Daily Mail
By EMMA RICHTER
1 March 2025



Newly released surveillance footage captured the moment a vicious animal decapitated a baby seal in California.

Headless bodies of deceased seal pups have been found along beaches in the Golden State for about a decade, leaving experts stumped as to what was causing the frightening killings - until now.

The terrifying pattern first arose in 2015, when dozens of dead baby seals were located, according to Sarah Grimes, the stranding coordinator at the Noyo Center for Marine Science in Mendocino County, SF Gate reported.

The distressing video, captured in the early hours of April 30, 2024, showed the culprit in action - a coyote.

The carnivore was seen placing its paw on the body of a seal as it bit the animal's head and ferociously tugged at it.

The footage was obtained after Grimes teamed up with Frankie Gerraty, a Ph.D. student at UC Santa Cruz, who was researching the relationship between marine and terrestrial species.

'What she told me was compelling enough that I was like, "OK, we need to get cameras out there and see what's going on",' Gerraty told the outlet.

(more)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14450233/horror-coyote-caught-camera-decapitating-baby-seals.html

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I remember reading about this years ago. At the time, they were confused.
They thought maybe fishermen or punk teenagers were doing this.
Glad they finally figured it out.

[catfish1957]

I remember reading about this years ago. At the time, they were confused.
They thought maybe fishermen or punk teenagers were doing this.
Glad they finally figured it out.

One theory was that there were commercial fur trappers kicking seals with lead filled snow shoes. Now that's a rumor but....