Seal bit swimmer through wetsuit in Washington. Then she needed special medicine
An experienced swimmer and triathlete was swimming off a Washington island when a harbor seal bit through her wetsuit, sending her to an emergency room, university officials said.
Dana Robertson Halter was making her way through the water off Decatur Island in August when a kelp bed slowed her down, so she started treading water, the University of Washington School of Medicine said in a Sept. 12 news release.
Then she felt a “sharp pain” on her leg, the release said.
She swam to her rowboat and saw a seal about 15 feet away from her in the water. That’s when she realized it had bitten her through her wet suit.
“She was adorable, and also had a pup that she thought I was too close to,” Robertson Halter told the school.
Robertson Halter went to an emergency room to have her wound checked out, according to the release. She was given stitches and antibiotics.
But a week later, Robertson Halter developed a fever and her puncture wound was not healing, UW Medicine said.
She was referred to the Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Clinic at UW Medical Center and given a different antibiotic.
“Once we were able to get her on an antibiotic that treated the bacteria that had contaminated her wound, then we were able to get her feeling much better really quickly,” infectious diseases fellow Dr. Sally Baker said in the release.
Baker said she had never treated a patient with a seal bite, but she had learned about it.
“What is in the mouth of a cat or a dog is very different than what’s in the mouth of a seal or a sea lion,” Baker said.
But Robertson Halter isn’t giving up swimming anytime soon after her seal bite.
“I still love seals,” she told KIRO-FM. “I still think seals are terrific.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2023 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Seal bit swimmer through wetsuit in Washington. Then she needed special medicine."
