Seal season off to a rough start in West Seattle
Sep/21/14 06:19 PM
Each harbor seal pupping season (late June - September in South Puget Sound) seems to have its own unique properties. We hate to say it, but this 2014 season is off to a bleak start in West Seattle.
Some years, Seal Sitters MMSN (SSMMSN) responds to lots of pups who show up only for a day or so. Other years, we’ll have a number of pups, successfully making the transition from nursing on mom’s rich milk to foraging on their own, who come ashore for many days in a row (like Spanky and Queen Latifah, both of whom hauled out every day for two months) - the years we seemed to have a surplus of small forage fish in the Fall.
Most years, we have a mix of some healthy pups (like Queen Latifah at left on her rocky throne in 2011) to offset the many struggling ones. The last few years, however, we have had way too many terribly thin pups who didn’t survive. So, the stranding network never knows quite what to expect.
The 2014 season so far has had its quirks, too. For the first time in our 8 years as a stranding network, in early June we had a full lanugo, month-premature pup, believed to have been born on busy Alki Beach. Nicknamed Luigi, he was the earliest newborn pup on record for West Seattle. Sadly, the tiny, abandoned pup had to be euthanized. Another abandoned, but full-term pup was rescued by Seal Sitters from the craggy rocks at Duwamish Head at the end of June. This pup, Junebug, was successfully rehabbed at PAWS Wildlife Center and released back to the wild on August 26th.
To date, Junebug is the only highlight in what is shaping up to be a very disheartening season. Statistically, seal pupping season in West Seattle is recorded from our first response to a newborn pup in the calendar year (usually in mid-late July or August) through the end of the year as pups continue to use the shoreline. We have had fewer responses than our record-breaking season last year, but already have a higher dead pup count in this recent period from the lanugo pup in early June through September 20th. A full third of our responses this season have been to dead pups or pups that subsequently died.
Disturbingly, we have had three pups die in recent weeks with numerous bite wounds to the head and body. Are the seal pups getting roughed up before leaving the rookeries by adult males, intent on mating and competing for space - or are they being attacked on our shores by off-leash dogs or coyotes? That is a question we most likely cannot answer with limited funding for necropsies.
While there is indeed a 50% mortality in the wild for seal pups the first year, the percentage of Seal Sitters MMSN’s responses to dead seal pups just seems to be higher the past few years. We want to be clear that our numbers do not necessarily reflect Puget Sound populations as a whole and the harbor seal population is considered healthy and is not endangered. Other areas may have a more plentiful food source and more successful pups.
We did have high hopes for a bumper crop of healthy pups visiting West Seattle this year, based on reports from biologists observing moms and pups at South Puget Sound rookeries. Apparently, there was less predation, pup abandonment and death this season at one historic harbor seal haulout. As of last week at that island rookery south of Tacoma, only 24 pups (2 of those still nursing) remained - the other chubby 100 or so newly weaned pups had already dispersed, headed elsewhere to forage and rest. Perhaps some of those pups will head our way, evening out responses to emaciated ones.
As we mention over and over in these posts, harbor seal pups are in a daily struggle to survive - and health can take a dramatic downturn in just a matter of days. Undisrupted rest can truly make the difference between life and death. With the approaching wet chill of fall and winter months, seal pups face many challenges ahead of them. While Seal Sitters volunteers can’t control the effects of pollution, disease or declining fish stocks (including that of two sustaining forage fish for seal and sea lion pups: Pacific herring and sardines), what we can do is help pups rest and warm up, giving them a better chance at survival. Additionally, we can spread some powerful education about these amazing animals who share equal time in the sea and on land.
Despite the emotional ups and downs for volunteers, Seal Sitters MMSN will always do our best to ensure that seal pups are protected - free from stress - while resting on our shores. You can help. Please, call our dedicated hotline at 206-905-SEAL (7325) if you see a marine mammal, dead or alive, on public or private beach.
Some years, Seal Sitters MMSN (SSMMSN) responds to lots of pups who show up only for a day or so. Other years, we’ll have a number of pups, successfully making the transition from nursing on mom’s rich milk to foraging on their own, who come ashore for many days in a row (like Spanky and Queen Latifah, both of whom hauled out every day for two months) - the years we seemed to have a surplus of small forage fish in the Fall.
The 2014 season so far has had its quirks, too. For the first time in our 8 years as a stranding network, in early June we had a full lanugo, month-premature pup, believed to have been born on busy Alki Beach. Nicknamed Luigi, he was the earliest newborn pup on record for West Seattle. Sadly, the tiny, abandoned pup had to be euthanized. Another abandoned, but full-term pup was rescued by Seal Sitters from the craggy rocks at Duwamish Head at the end of June. This pup, Junebug, was successfully rehabbed at PAWS Wildlife Center and released back to the wild on August 26th.
To date, Junebug is the only highlight in what is shaping up to be a very disheartening season. Statistically, seal pupping season in West Seattle is recorded from our first response to a newborn pup in the calendar year (usually in mid-late July or August) through the end of the year as pups continue to use the shoreline. We have had fewer responses than our record-breaking season last year, but already have a higher dead pup count in this recent period from the lanugo pup in early June through September 20th. A full third of our responses this season have been to dead pups or pups that subsequently died.
Disturbingly, we have had three pups die in recent weeks with numerous bite wounds to the head and body. Are the seal pups getting roughed up before leaving the rookeries by adult males, intent on mating and competing for space - or are they being attacked on our shores by off-leash dogs or coyotes? That is a question we most likely cannot answer with limited funding for necropsies.
While there is indeed a 50% mortality in the wild for seal pups the first year, the percentage of Seal Sitters MMSN’s responses to dead seal pups just seems to be higher the past few years. We want to be clear that our numbers do not necessarily reflect Puget Sound populations as a whole and the harbor seal population is considered healthy and is not endangered. Other areas may have a more plentiful food source and more successful pups.
We did have high hopes for a bumper crop of healthy pups visiting West Seattle this year, based on reports from biologists observing moms and pups at South Puget Sound rookeries. Apparently, there was less predation, pup abandonment and death this season at one historic harbor seal haulout. As of last week at that island rookery south of Tacoma, only 24 pups (2 of those still nursing) remained - the other chubby 100 or so newly weaned pups had already dispersed, headed elsewhere to forage and rest. Perhaps some of those pups will head our way, evening out responses to emaciated ones.
As we mention over and over in these posts, harbor seal pups are in a daily struggle to survive - and health can take a dramatic downturn in just a matter of days. Undisrupted rest can truly make the difference between life and death. With the approaching wet chill of fall and winter months, seal pups face many challenges ahead of them. While Seal Sitters volunteers can’t control the effects of pollution, disease or declining fish stocks (including that of two sustaining forage fish for seal and sea lion pups: Pacific herring and sardines), what we can do is help pups rest and warm up, giving them a better chance at survival. Additionally, we can spread some powerful education about these amazing animals who share equal time in the sea and on land.
Despite the emotional ups and downs for volunteers, Seal Sitters MMSN will always do our best to ensure that seal pups are protected - free from stress - while resting on our shores. You can help. Please, call our dedicated hotline at 206-905-SEAL (7325) if you see a marine mammal, dead or alive, on public or private beach.
