Kangaroo island  - South Audtralia

Pastel on Pastelmat paper   Fully framed 

Image only size       36 X51 cm

Australian fur seals used to be very common in Southern Australia waters but hunting by European settlers for skins, blubber and oil reduced their numbers (and those of many other species) to the edge of extinction. In one decade from 1801 to 1810 over 150,000 Australian Fur Seals were killed just in Bass Strait and ships were heading back to England literally bulging at the seams with thousands of skins. The brutal and thoughtless slaughter eliminated fur seals from many sites and though they have not been legally hunted for well over 100 years now in most sites they never bred there again. Australian Fur Seals now breed at around 15-20 sites in Phillip Island, far South-West Victoria, Bass Strait, around Tasmania and South Australia. The slaughter eliminated fur seals from several sites – and though they have not been legally hunted for well over 100 years, they have never bred there again.

They are now fully protected, and though there has been some recovery, they are still estimated to number less than half their pre-hunting population. It is now estimated that around 120,000 Australian fur seals live in the wild.

This young pup's mum is out at sea off Kangaroo Island finding food while he is taking his ease up high among the coastal rocks..... safe and soaking up the summer sunshine.

I hope you enjoy this pastel painting and if you wish to find out what you can do to help fur seals like this gorgeous little guy in Australia go to https://www.marineconservation.org.au/