Four of the 41 seals that have been found dead on Banks Peninsula. Photo / Department of Conservation
An adult seal and 40 pups have been found dead on an isolated part of Banks Peninsula near Christchurch.
Department of Conservation Christchurch operations manager Andy Thompson said the agency was alerted to the deaths late yesterday and was "keeping an open mind" about how they died.
"Our ranger counted
41 dead seals. One was an adult seal and the rest were pups at weaning age," he said.
"We think they had been dead for about two to three weeks by the state of the bodies. They were found high up on the beach, above the high tide mark, and we think they were probably swept there by high seas.
"This is a remote area of the peninsula and locals have told us that there were stormy, heavy seas about the time we think the seals died.
