France shocked by mystery of headless seals on Brittany’s beaches

The discovery of a series of decapitated seals left on Brittany’s beaches has shocked France and prompted a police manhunt for their killers.

“People are horrified,” Julien, a resident of Concarneau in Finistère, told the Telegraph. “Whoever is killing seals and cutting off their heads has got to be truly sick.”

Gautier Paris, the detective heading the investigation, said: “We were first alerted to the killings by the Concarneau harbourmaster who told us a seal’s head had been found hanging from a cord at the end of the seawall, almost like a trophy.”

A month later, a headless seal was found on a nearby beach “in an advanced state of decomposition”.  A week later, another headless corpse was discovered on a beach in nearby Trégunc.

“It had been dead for two or three days,” Mr Paris said. “This time we never found the head. It had been severed with a sharp tool, probably a fishing knife.” Police suspect that “a person or persons working on a boat, perhaps a fishing vessel,” may be responsible for the killings. CCTV footage “just showed boats passing by,” according to Mr Paris, and the police have now appealed for witnesses.

“Everyone here is shocked,” Mr Paris said. “We’ve received a lot of messages of support and some leads which we’re examining now. This type of thing has never happened before in our area.”

But the gory discoveries revived memories of seal killings in the Calais area and in the Somme Bay, south of Boulogne, near last year. Some had been decapitated, others shot.

A police investigation was inconclusive, but it was suspected that some of the marine mammals had been caught in fishing nets and may have been cut loose.

A record number of dead dolphins – more than 1,000 – have washed up on French beaches this year. Most showed signs of injuries from being accidentally caught in fishing nets. 

Seals hunt and eat large quantities of fish, but they are a protected species and fishermen generally leave them alone. Killing seals is an offence in France that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine of €150,000 (£130,000).

The conservation group Sea Shepherd France has offered a €10,000 (£8,600) reward for information leading to the capture of the seal killers.