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Dead Oregon Coast Seal Illustrates Need to Keep Away |
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Covering 180 miles of Oregon coast travel: Astoria, Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Nehalem, Wheeler, Rockaway, Garibaldi, Tillamook, Oceanside, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Waldport, Yachats & Florence.
05/13/08
Secrets of the Season |
Dead Oregon Coast Seal Illustrates Need to Keep Away
(Cannon
Beach, Oregon) - An elephant seal on the north Oregon coast had officials
quite concerned this week, as it lay on the beach, in the painful process
of molting. Crews from the Marine Mammal Stranding Network had to stay
quite vigilant in trying keep onlookers away and preventing well-meaning
people from doing the wrong thing: trying to help.
The last thing this creature needed was human intervention of any kind.
Then, however, the seal died on Sunday night.
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| This elephant seal was found molting two years ago in Manzanita (photo Tiffany Boothe, Seaside Aquarium) |
“The elephant seal that has been resting for several days near Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach passed away late last night,” said Seaside Aquarium’s Tiffany Boothe on Monday, who is also part of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. “The seal was first brought to the attention of aquarium staff on May 7th. It is not uncommon to see elephant seals in this area. Often the yearlings will rest on local beaches while they molt. Molting is a very painful and lengthy process where the seal sheds all its fur.
“Sadly this elephant seal was different from most we see. It was sick. Marine Mammal officials came down today to recover the animal and a necropsy will be done later this week.”
Aquarium manager Keith Chandler small crowds gathered around the creature to stare in empathy, which landed in a heavy traffic spot in the Tolovana Beach section of Cannon Beach. This was a recipe for major problems, as seals in the molting process need to find a place away from humans.
“They were all concerned, and everybody wanted to help, but it’s probably not the best location if you want peace and quiet,” Chandler said. “You’re not going to get it in front of Mo’s. It showed up in a really high profile spot. That’s just the bad luck of the draw.”
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| Elephant Seal in Manzanita (photo Boothe). Molting season happens now through the fall, so expect to see more of these on Oregon beaches. |
Chandler said it was likely the tide had washed the seal up at that place, and that it didn’t have much choice where it landed because it was quite ill.
There are various reasons for concern in a situation involving people and animals washing up.
“We’re always concerned for their safety,” Chandler said. “They may be slow, not feeling well and lethargic, but they can still deliver a powerful bite and injure a person. There’s also the worry about dogs. They can get sick from coming into contact with an elephant seal.”
At first, Chandler and the crew thought it was a particularly heavy dose of molting, as the thing looked in pretty bad shape. He said he’s often tempted to think a molting animal like this is in trouble, but he winds up surprised almost every time when the creature is gone back to the sea after a few days to two weeks.
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| Other things you should leave alone on the beach: cute baby seals, which are showing up now through fall as well |
“As with every animal, we give it a chance to get better,” Chandler said. “We leave it alone. But this one was actually quite sick.”
Well-meaning people try to help, but if they don’t know what to do, they can be hurting more than ever. Unless you have some training in this field, it’s best to assume you won’t know what to do.
Chandler said people often make things worse when doing anything at all.
“They tend to bring buckets of water and pour it on the seal, thinking that will help,” Chandler said. “But that’s exactly the opposite of what you’re supposed to do. They come to the beach to get away from the saltwater, as that hurts them while they’re molting. If they stay on the beach, their body temperature will rise, and that helps them through the molting. People mean well, but they don’t know they’re just making it a lot worse.”
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| Marine Mammal Stranding Network staff deal with a seal carcass in Seaside in November |
Boothe said that unlike most seals, elephant seals spend most of their time in the sea.
“In fact, nearly 90 percent of their time is spent in the water,” she said. “Males can spend up to 300 days a year in the ocean; females spend an average of 250 days. They can make deep long dive which average 20 to 40 minutes. But they have been observed diving for up to 70 minutes.”
Their main diet consists of cephalopods.
Boothe said Elephant seals were hunted to near extinction in the 1800's for their blubber, leaving only 100 to 1,000 individual animals remaining. Since their protection, their numbers have increased and today their population has almost been restored to historic levels.
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