Harbor seal pup with gunshot wound recovering after rescue from Bellingham beach
A harbor seal pup is receiving treatment after it was discovered with a gunshot wound in the Smith Gardens tidal flats north of downtown Bellingham.
Casey Mclean, veterinary nurse and executive director of the nonprofit SR3 (Sealife Response, Rehabilitation and Research), said the animal was taken in by the Whatcom Human Society July 3 with a head wound. The pup was stabilized and transferred to SR3’s Rescue Center in Des Moines, Wash., two days later.
It was only then, after a radiograph was taken of the seal’s skull, that veterinarians learned the animal had been shot.
Mclean said the pup is stable, and SR3 will be conducting a CT scan Friday to determine whether surgery will be needed to remove the projectile. She explained that seals would still be nursing at this age, so the animal is being tube-fed and given pain medication and antibiotics.
She said the seal is “healing quite well,” and SR3 is hopeful that he will be returned to the wild.
This pup is the third one to be treated for a gunshot wound by SR3 in less than a year. Mclean said that this rise in shootings is likely due to misinformation about seals affecting salmon recovery.
Seals and sea lions are federally protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and shooting one carries consequences of up to a year in jail and civil penalties greater than $29,000. Alaska Natives are exempt from these laws under specific circumstances.
A new bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 would amend the Marine Mammal Protection Act to allow for the taking of pinnipeds, which include seals and sea lions, on the Columbia River and its tributaries to protect endangered salmon and other fish.
Mclean urged Washingtonians to reach out to their representatives about the bill.
“The science is very clear that killing seals and sea lions will not recover our salmon populations,” Mclean said.