‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers

Seals have been biting people in the first big outbreak of the disease in marine mammals, writes Nick Dall in Cape Town

It's happened to me dozens of times: I'm riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me. Being in Cape Town - a great white shark hotspot - it's hard not to assume the worst. But fear soon gives into relief when it becomes clear that I'm sharing the wave with a Cape fur seal. Sometimes, they get so close you can see the bubbles on their whiskers.

Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies - the world's first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals - and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.