Press Watch —  The Voices Newspaper, 15 June 2008

DIDIM’s adopted seal Badem has been assigned three gendarme officials after one man threatened to harpoon it.

The seal, which injured a number of people last week in Bodrum, including Asım Küçükosmanoğlu who was trying to play with him, caused one person to threaten to harm the hapless animal.

Not leaving the Bodrum Ören Beach for days, Badem was again the centre of attention last week when he [sic] bit several people, including 65-year-old lawyer Küçükosmanoğlu who almost drowned due to the incident.

→ Continue reading Badem faces death threats

Photos from the Hürriyet photo gallery.

With the tourist season now well underway along Turkey’s Aegean coast, orphaned monk seal pup Badem continues to make friends – but also enemies [see Ambassador with Attitude, TMG 11(1): June 2008].

Three armed gendarme officers have now been assigned to watch over the seal, following threats by a speargun diver that he would harpoon the animal. It is believed that threats by others may also have prompted that official action, as well as appeals by SAD-AFAG, the organisation monitoring Badem’s welfare.

→ Continue reading Badem under armed guard

Hürriyet photo gallery

Press Watch —  The Voices Newspaper, 9 June, 2008

DIDIM’s adopted seal Badem, which was released back into the wild last year, has hit the headlines again – for biting ten people. [...]

Despite warnings from the authorities, people showed too much interest in Badem, causing him to bite back to retain his freedom.

Last week Badem bit six university students who were trying to pull him by the tail to the shore and also 65-years-old German tourist Hans Gutshce. The German had five stitches in his legs.

When Badem bit three more people, who attempted to stroke him, the Underwater Mediterranean Monk Seal Research Group took action to protect Badem and prevent him from hurting others.

→ Continue reading Badem bites back

Press Watch — Sun Express, 7 June 2008

The seal that bit 6 persons, one a German, on the Akyaka shore of Muğla’s city of Ula, is being monitored by the Underwater Research Association (SAD). Zafer Kızılkaya, an underwater photographer and member of SAD, who has been watching the seal named Badem, asked the public to leave the seal alone and to remember that after all, it is a wild animal.

Badem, who has made his home in the bay of Gökova, got tired of too much attention and bit and hospitalized 6 persons, one of them a German. Badem, after being treated by the Underwater Research Association in the rehabilitation center in Foça, İzmir, last year, was released in Muğla.

After a group of university students attempted to pick Badem up and deposit him on the shore last Saturday, the seal bit six swimmers and disappeared. Members of the Underwater Research Association found Badem swimming off the shore of Cedrea Island in Gökova Bay, took him on board and released him off the Karacasöğüt shore.

Zafer Kızılkaya, official of the Underwater Research Association and a professional underwater photographer, said that in spite of many warnings, people still make a fuss of Badem, and he attacks if he is disturbed by too much attention. He said, “We keep warning people. Too much attention makes it difficult for Badem to adapt to its natural environment. And when people try to touch him, he attacks. This animal has to adapt to the local environment.

Full article

Further info

Ambassador with Attitude, TMG 11 (1): June 2008.