Scientists identify seal-decapitating killer

Study finds who has been killing animals since 2016

Seven years later, scientists have solved the case of dozens of headless seals found on Northern California beaches since 2016.

Sarah Grimes of the Noyo Marine Science Center is investigating the marine mammal deaths and told Mercury News she suspects someone is responsible, but needs proof.

“It was so horrific,” Grimes told the Bay Area newspaper. “I was there as a marine mammal criminologist, seeing all the dead seal pups with their heads blown off, and I wondered, ‘Who did this?’

The headless bodies were found in McKerricher State Park, where a UC Santa Cruz student caught the culprit red-handed.

“We set up camera traps and got one really good video of a coyote dragging a seal pup and decapitating it,” said graduate student Frankie Gerraty. “We’re pretty sure that predation occurred in four locations along the Northern California coast.”

Researchers aren’t sharing the video yet as they continue to try to understand the “seemingly new predator-prey relationship,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Scientists are also working to understand why coyotes only hunt seals’ heads, leaving their bodies behind, but believe it may have to do with the nutrient content of seals’ brains compared to other body parts.

Researchers note that coyotes are increasingly appearing in the area after decades of being baited and hunted by farmers and ranchers.

“It’s a balance of nature,” Grimes explains to the LA Times. “Coyote is not a villain. It’s part of an ecosystem that has been missing for several years.”

There is currently an annual closure in place at Point Reyes National Seashore until March 31, 2024, to protect elephant seal pups from disturbance during the breeding season, the park’s website states.