Some good leads are being followed to identify the owner of two dogs that attacked and killed a juvenile New Zealand fur seal at Kakanui on Tuesday morning.
Dunedin-based Doc biodiversity manager Jim Fyfe said the report of the seal's death had prompted a number of leads on who the dog owner might be, which were being followed up by a compliance officer.
If the person was identified, Doc had various options.
The Dog Control Act provided a number of offences with infringement notices, or the Marine Mammals Protection Act provided for a fine of up to $250,000 and/or six months' imprisonment, against any person responsible for the death of a seal.
Two attempts to find and retrieve the dead seal from the All Day Bay lagoon failed. If it had been recovered, a postmortem could have confirmed the cause of death.
Timaru woman Irene Mitchell was asleep in her camper van next to the lagoon when dogs barking woke her about 7.15am.
Annoyed by the continuous barking, she got up, went outside and saw two greyhound-type dogs attacking the seal.
Initially, she thought the seal was dead, but when she yelled at the dogs and they moved away, the seal sat up then rolled over.
When it was pulled from the All Day Bay lagoon, it was dead. It was later washed away by the tide.
It is not unusual for juvenile seals to come ashore at this time of year as they cope with being weaned from their mothers.
