The seal that bit 6 persons, one a German, on the Akyaka shore of Muğla”s city of Ula, is being monitored by the Underwater Research Association (SAD). Zafer Kızılkaya, an underwater photographer and member of SAD, who has been watching the seal named Badem, asked the public to leave the seal alone and to remember that after all, it is a wild animal.
Badem, who has made his home in the bay of Gökova, got tired of too much attention and bit and hospitalized 6 persons, one of them a German. Badem, after being treated by the Underwater Research Association in the rehabilitation center in Foça, İzmir, last year, was released in Muğla.
After a group of university students attempted to pick Badem up and deposit him on the shore last Saturday, the seal bit six swimmers and disappeared. Members of the Underwater Research Association found Badem swimming off the shore of Cedrea Island in Gökova Bay, took him on board and released him off the Karacasöğüt shore.
Zafer Kızılkaya, official of the Underwater Research Association and a professional underwater photographer, said that in spite of many warnings, people still make a fuss of Badem, and he attacks if he is disturbed by too much attention. He said, “We keep warning people. Too much attention makes it difficult for Badem to adapt to its natural environment. And when people try to touch him, he attacks. This animal has to adapt to the local environment.”
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