Young, injured seal was wrapped in debris on Washington island, photos show
A seal was found entangled in debris on a Washington island, a local nonprofit said.
The Guadalupe fur seal was found on Jakles Lagoon on San Juan Island with bright bluish green multi-filament netting wrapped around its neck, the Whale Museum told McClatchy News and wrote in a Facebook post.
Photos show the entangled mammal laying on a piece of driftwood. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working to match the gear to a specific fishery, the Whale Museum’s stranding coordinator Alyssa Scott said.
Guadalupe fur seals are uncommon to the Washington area because they are typically found off the Pacific coast of Mexico and Southern California.
The organization has never seen this type of seal in the area and Scott said the sighting was “a bit alarming.”
Harbor seals, Steller sea lions and California sea lions are common, though.
A team from the Whale Museum helped untangle the debris from the seal and sent the critter to the Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research facility.
It’s not uncommon for seals to require assistance in this area.
Typically, the agency says it gets 200 calls every year to help marine mammals, including sea lions, dolphins, whales and porpoises, which are similar to dolphins. But harbor seal pups are the most called in.
The nonprofit encourages the public to remove fishing gear from the water when fishing and to pick up and throw away any trash or netting hazards seen around the water to mitigate future entanglements.
The Whale Museum, a nonprofit organization, was created the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network to help stranded or injured animals in the Salish Sea.
Call 1-800-562-8832 or email hotline@whalemuseum.org to report an aquatic mammal stranding in San Juan County.
San Juan County, southwest of Bellingham, is made up of 172 islands and reefs.
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