TWO SEALS WERE found dying from bullet wounds on Tramore Beach in Waterford over the past two days.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary said the two seals were “left for dead” when they were found and attended to by the Waterford SPCA and local vets.

The extent of their injuries were “horrific” and they had to be “humanely euthanised”.

The first seal discovered was a mature bull who had been shot in the head with what appears to be a .22 bullet. The sanctuary said that the shooting was illegal.

“Had this been an authorised shooting under license from the NPWS it would have been shot with a weapon capable of killing it outright,” the sanctuary explained in a statement.

Fishermen in the area are calling for a cull of seals but the sanctuary said that whoever is responsible is acting “against the interests of all responsible fishermen and firearms certificate holders”.

No-one can condone such a cruel and illegal act, exposing the public to a dying seal on a public beach is certainly not the way to achieve public support for fishermen’s interests.

The Irish Seal Sanctuary works with fishermen’s organisations in an attempt to resolve conflicts between fishermen and seals. It has never opposed the properly authorised and licensed killing  of individual seals, carried out in the authorised manner.