The hotline received a call late morning about a pup on West Seattle’s city side. Our responder found the pup, who had evidently hauled out at high tide, enjoying a sunbreak on the rocks. A tape perimeter was set and the pup, nicknamed Sly, rested for several hours before returning to Elliott Bay. One bystander wondered why we couldn’t move the tape so people could get a view of him on the rocks below. Unfortunately, that would have meant that folks would be a mere 15 or 20 feet (NOAA recommends 100 yards) from the pup and a gathering crowd would have disrupted the pup’s much-needed shut-eye. If you can see the pup, he can see you - and hear you (seals have excellent hearing). In this particular situation, it was not possible to have a good vantage point for viewing him. More likely than not, Sly would have been scared back into the water, possibly coming ashore on the nearby Don Armeni boat launch, a very dangerous place for a small pup and at times an inconvenient situation for boaters and fishermen.

Tags: Sly