The asker on that PSA post turned out to be kind of an unsavory type beyond just rudeness, but the general message is important so i'm archiving it here.
The thing about seals is their PR is ideal: they're cute and round and all, there's tons of videos of aquarium workers having fun interacting with them. They're just so cute, it should be fine to get all close and touch one when you see one in the wild, right?
Well...nope. Despite their lack of mobility on land, seals are still Carnivora, and their closest relatives are bears: even the cutest smallest seals have sharp claws and teeth for hunting fish.
One of the top predators in the Antarctic waters is the Leopard seal, and Elephant seals (who tend to live around places humans live, too) can be aggressive and their thick skin and fat help them withstand blows that would pulverize the average human.
However, this isn't just for your safety, but theirs too! As some of you may know, the US has the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which plainly serves to protect the ecosystems of marine mammals such as seals. It prohibits the "taking" of marine mammals, which includes not only killing and displacing the animals but also "harassment", which in turn is defined as behavior that has the potential to either injure said wild mammal or disturb behavioral patterns: breathing, feeding, breeding, migrating, sheltering, nursing. Any US aquarium with seals, or scientists bothering seals for research have received a permit to take them from their natural habitat and harass them. That doesn't mean that once you're outside the US you're free to stick your hand into that Leopard seal's mouth: regulations are written in blood, laws aren't just required but can just be common sense even when they don't apply where you are. A lot of facilities containing seals are rescue centers; the seals have to be there for their own good because of an injury or disease.
This has been a Sealsdaily PSA; please remember that most interactions with seals you see out there are done by professionals who have been permitted and trusted to interact with these animals, and if it's an everyman doing the interacting it can lead to consequences.
Oh i didn't know about seal finger before, but that's also a valid point about taking caution in human-seal interactions.
Technically this one is less "seal puncture leads to disease" and more "seals live in the same area as Mycoplasma bacteria that can infect punctures", but like, again, just, general safety. Seals aren't an outlier; if you see any wild animal it's best to keep your distance
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