Sand Point Beach research excursion turns life-saving fur seal rescue

A January field research excursion to Sand Point Beach on the Olympic Peninsula turned into a fur seal rescue when researchers heard a seal crying for help, said the Seattle Aquarium.

The excursion almost didn’t happen after Seattle Aquarium Senior Conservation Research Manager Dr. Shawn Larson looked at the weather forecast and saw it was predicting high seas, rain, and high winds.

Larson and Seattle Aquarium Research Scientist for Clean Seas Veronica Padulla had planned to meet the curator of Marine Mammals from the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Brittany Blades, and senior mammologist, Ashley Griffin-Stence to observe sea otters as a training exercise and part of ongoing research on the species.

The team decided to go and headed out with heavy rain gear.

The team hiked to the beach and saw many sea otters in the water offshore, but said they could tell something was wrong.

Suddenly they heard a cry of distress and started searching for a sea otter pup in need of its mom before realizing the cry was actually coming from the beach.

They discovered a young northern fur seal pup with material wrapped tightly around its neck. They called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network.

“In my 22 years of doing this work, I’ve never seen a northern fur seal pup on the beach,” said Larson.

The remote beach access would have taken responders hours to arrive at the scene, but luckily for the seal everyone on the team was trained marine mammal biologists with specific experience handling and rehabilitating entangled fur seals.

Larson managed to use her single bar of service to complete the call with the NOAA and was given authorization to disentangle the pup.

Using a pair of scissors from her first aid kit, she cut the material that was stretched around the animal’s neck, a loop of elastic, similar to what you’d find in a garden glove. While she cut the elastic, Blades and Griffin-Stence secured the animal’s body.

“If we hadn’t been able to remove the elastic, the animal likely would have died,” Larson said. “He was already starting to look a little lean, an indication that he wasn’t able to eat well, and the material could have also restricted his breathing.”

Once freed, the pup made its way to the water, where it will hopefully live a long happy life.