A seal known to local residents has been found dead, allegedly after being clubbed, in a beach town in the south-central Vietnamese province of Binh Thuan on Sunday.

The mammal quickly became popular amongst villagers along Doi Duong Beach in Phan Ri Cua Town, Tuy Phong District, since first being noticed in December 2016.

The seal had been coming to shore frequently to interact with people and measured approximately 1.2 meters long and weighed around 50kg.

Local resident Nguyen Loc Quan said he saw the seal while swimming at the beach on Sunday night, and stopped to play with the animal for a while.

However, at 9:00 pm on the same day, Quan was told that the animal had been beaten to death.

“I rushed to the scene and saw the injured seal with his head bleeding,” he said on Tuesday.

Quan could do nothing but bury the poor mammal, he told reporters.

He and several residents suspect the seal may have been clubbed to death by fishermen as the animal had damaged their fishing nets.

Huynh Van Dien, chairman of Tuy Phong District, claimed in an interview with Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper that the seal had been attacked offshore and only washed up on Doi Duong Beach.

Dien said the animal may have eaten some fishermen’s catch and damaged their nets so with little knowledge or awareness of animal protection rights, they simply killed it in revenge.

It is not common for seals to come ashore along Vietnam’s coastline.

Authorities in Phan Ri Cua Town had earlier called on locals not to harm the seal.

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