Seal Sitters will hold our final training of the year on Saturday, May 19th at the Alki Bathhouse (2701 Alki Avenue SW, next to Statue of Liberty on the beach). From 10am-12:00pm, there will be a talk and A/V presentation. After a 30 minute break, there will be a followup on-the-beach training session lasting approximately an hour. Due to the demands of volunteer time protecting animals during pupping season, there will be no further trainings this year.

Pupping season in South Puget Sound begins in mid-June in area rookeries, where pups are born and nursed for 4-6 weeks. We don’t usually begin seeing pups on West Seattle beaches until early July with the peak of our season in September and October. All of the pups we have been seeing the past few months are weaned pups from last season. Please mark your calendar for the training event and RSVP if you would like to attend.

Pupping season has begun on the outer coast of Oregon and Washington. If you visit coastal areas, you may encounter a pup alone on the beach. Please observe from a distance and keep people and dogs away. This is a very dangerous time of year for newborn pups - if people or dogs cause disruption in a rookery or around a pup alone on the beach, a mother may abandon her young. If you have concerns about the health or safety of a pup, please call the stranding network for that area. Never remove a pup from the beach - it is against Federal Law (the Marine Mammal Protection Act). If you don’t have access to the internet from your phone, you can always call the Seal Sitters hotline at 206-905-SEAL (7325) for the appropriate contact information of the proper stranding response team.

We look forward to seeing you on the 19th- please RSVP here. We encourage children (such as Noemi and Etienne above) to join Seal Sitters - it is a very empowering experience for a child to be able to protect marine mammals and learn about our fragile marine ecosystem.

Tags: training, volunteer training