Seal victim has 31 bite wounds

Update Video

MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - Following three seal attacks at two Mossel Bay beaches on one day, one of the victims told Mossel Bay Advertiser how he was badly bitten multiple times and, if not for his weight and size, might not have survived.

Steven Macdonald (56) was bitten on his legs and feet while swimming off Santos Beach on Saturday, at about 10:30. He was one of two people attacked while swimming at Santos. In the third incident that day a surfer was attacked at The Point.

Macdonald, an experienced scuba diver, has been swimming in open water for the past 10 years. He says Santos Beach is his favourite place to swim and that on Saturday morning, he and his wife Bronwyn, went to the beach, as they usually do on a Saturday.

He has been training for the Isuzu Ironman 70.3 Mossel Bay, in which competitors swim 1.9km from Santos Beach to De Bakke Beach.

VIDEO: Steven Macdonald speaks about his experience with the seal

Training
Macdonald had been training at Santos on Thursday and Friday, 3 and 4 October, without incident, however, on Saturday he ended up in hospital, needing surgery for 31 puncture wounds to his legs and feet. Loose skin had to be cut away from the wounds.

He had been swimming along the buoy line and had cleared the last buoy at the western end of the line and was just where the rocks underwater form the first reef. Macdonald was alone at this point as he had passed other swimmers heading back toward the main beach a few hundred metres back.

"I felt this pain in one leg. I looked down and saw this huge seal biting me. He was hanging on to my leg and shaking me," says Macdonald.

The seal bit Macdonald's legs and feet.

"The seal eventually let go but then I felt it bite straight through my foot. I managed to kick it off with my other foot, but then he bit that leg, right above my knee, and then bit through my other foot."
Once the seal let go, all Macdonald could think about was getting away.

"I swam until my body was over the rocks so that it could not attack me from below. I kept looking behind me to see if it would attack me from behind, but all I could see was this cloud of blood in the water."

Macdonald continued to swim toward the shore and spotted a couple on the beach. He began waving and shouting but they only heard him when he was almost on the beach.

"They came and dragged me out of the water. Another man held my legs up in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The lifeguards, who were volunteering that day, came to me immediately and bandaged my leg. I have nothing but praise for these lifeguards," he said.

The lifeguards then carried him on a stretcher to the changing rooms and then some members of the public helped carry him up the stairs to the parking lot, where he waited for the ambulance to fetch him.

He said the Garden Route SPCA Mossel Bay, Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team (S.M.A.R.T.), Mossel Bay Municipality Law Enforcement officials and the police were all present.

Steven Macdonald with his wife, Bronwyn, in Life Bay View Private Hospital.

Operation
Once the ambulance arrived, he was rushed to Bay View Life Private Hospital, where the doctor on duty immediately called the surgeon on duty.

"They needed to operate. I was placed in the theatre very quickly."

Macdonald says he was told he had 31 puncture wounds and that loose skin had to be cut away from the wounds due to a risk of infection.

He says that, in line with rabies treatment protocol, rabies immunoglobulin was injected into the wounds and the administration of the first rabies vaccination was done while in theatre. The wounds could not be stitched due to risk of infection.

"I awoke a few hours later in the hospital ward, on drips."

"I had another vaccination on Tuesday (8 October), I will have another on Saturday (12 October), another the following Saturday, and the last one two weeks from then."

Macdonald says that in the past, he had only had positive experiences with seals. He says that, while he has always been wary of them and never sought them out, seals have swum alongside him a few times.

Not normal
"This seal was big and seemed intent on eating me. He was vicious. It was not normal. I can only assume the seal was infected with rabies, otherwise I do not think it would have attacked me this way."

Macdonald was quick to emphasise that his experience should not stop others from swimming and enjoying time at the beach. He says his experience was similar to people being bitten by a venomous snake while out on a hike.

"Don't let what happened to me change what you enjoy doing. I do want to advise people to be wary and keep an eye out for seals. If you see them, stay away from them. If you are swimming, don't swim near rocks as that is where seals prefer to be."

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