Marine experts are puzzled after a grey seal attacked and killed a common dolphin off the Welsh coast for the first time. The incident occurred at Newgale beach in Pembrokeshire, where the dolphin was found dead earlier this week.
This is not an isolated event. Two separate confirmed instances of grey seals killing common dolphins have been recorded along the North Devon shoreline in recent months. Experts believe a small group of grey seals operating in the Bristol Channel may be responsible.
While grey seals have occasionally preyed on harbour porpoises in other UK coastal areas, there have been no previous reports of them killing the larger and faster common dolphins. The situation is under investigation by Marine Environmental Monitoring in Wales.
A spokesperson for the organisation said: 'It potentially is only a small population of grey seals that can capture and kill common dolphins and they are operating between North Devon and Welsh coastline. It isn't clear why the grey seals population now see common dolphin as prey, but we do know that over the last ten years there has been a huge population increase of common dolphins.'
Recorded incidents have also risen in other parts of the UK, including Ireland, where a grey seal was filmed killing a common dolphin last year. The reasons behind this behaviour remain unclear.
