Animal welfare groups called yesterday for tougher laws after five seals, four of them pregnant, were found shot dead on a beach in Scotland.

Police were urged to investigate the deaths in Orkney of four grey female seals and one juvenile after their bodies were discovered covered in blood and with gunshot wounds to the heads.

Amid fears that the bodies of more seals may still be floating at sea, animal welfare groups condemned what they described as an “indiscriminate act of slaughter” and called for an overhaul of shooting laws.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) said that the killings were appalling and raised the prospect that the seals may have suffered lingering deaths.

A spokeswoman said: “These were pregnant female seals who were very vulnerable. It is of grave concern to us as the animals have been found dead, but if a seal is wounded it could suffer for a long time.”

Under the Conservation of Seals Act 1970, anybody with a high-velocity rifle and an endorsement on their firearms certificate can shoot seals for most of the year.

During the moulting and breeding periods — June 1 to August 31 for common seals and September 1 to December 31 for greys — shooting is permitted only under licence. However, it is allowed if a fisherman believes that a seal is about to cause damage to his net or tackle. There is no requirement to report the number of seals shot.

Speaking as more than a dozen animal welfare groups, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, united to press for a tightening of the law, Mike Flynn, of the SSPCA, dismissed existing legislation as far too vague.

He said: “The problem is that within the Act it says to shoot a seal it must be within the vicinity (of fishing tackle), but the word vicinity is not defined.”

Ross Flett, director of Orkney Seal Rescue, who examined the dead seals after a member of public alerted police on Saturday, said: “I am quite sure the police have a good idea who is behind it, though to prosecute is extremely difficult.”

He aded: “Since the law was introduced in 1970 there has only been one prosecution and that was for somebody who killed seals with a shotgun rather than the approved size of rifle.”

The bodies were found on a rocky beach at the Point of Vastray, a headland on the northeast coastline of the Orkney mainland, at a time of year when females come inshore to harbour pups, Mr Flett said.

He said: “It was obvious they had been shot with a high-powered rifle. It was so upsetting, particularly because these were females and they would have had a pup inside them.”

He added: “I have seen so many incidents similar to this and sadly they are on the increase. These animals were clearly no threat to fishing equipment when they were shot. In the pupping season they come into the shallow waters and it just makes them easy targets.”

Although seal killings appear to be on the rise across Scotland, the worst cases in recent years have all been in Orkney. In the mid-1990s Mr Flett was called to a beach where he found 26 dead seal pups, while two years ago 12 greys, including ten pregnant females, were found dead on the shoreline of South Ronaldsay.

He said yesterday: “In this case it seems most likely that this was lobster creelmen who wrongly perceived the seals as a threat to their creels.”

Ross Minett, director of Advocates for Animals, called for the Scottish Executive, which has controlled animal welfare issues in Scotland since devolution, to change the law as the existing legislation was inadequate.

THE SILENT SLAUGHTER

• Grey seals are one of two main seals in British waters. The other is the common seal. They grow to about two metres long, with the bull weighing about 300kg and the cow 200kg
  
  
• Grey seals feed on all types of fish, as well as crabs, squid and sandeels, and breed in the autumn. On average they live for 30 years
  
  
• The Scottish population of grey seals is estimated at 120,000, 40 per cent of the world’s total. About 90 per cent of British seals live in Scottish waters
  
  
• Some 300,000 harp seal pups are killed each year in an annual cull approved by the Canadian Government
  
  
• A grey seal nicknamed “Sammy” by locals in Dumfries and Galloway was shot dead in May after efforts to scare him away from the River Annan failed
  
  
• Animal welfare groups estimate that up to 5,000 seals are killed each year in British waters, mainly by fishermen. Most killings go unreported

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